344. _Parish Registers--Right of Search--Fees claimable._--Considerable
attention has of late been excited with reference to the difficulties
attending the ordinary means of access to various public depositories of
documentary evidence in this country. In some of these departments, the
commencement of a welcome reform is already apparent; others, it is but
reasonable to hope, will, ere long, yield to the frank and inquisitive
spirit of the times in this respect. The present communication is
confined to a very wide, though less dignified source of official
information, viz. Parish Registers. I am sure I need not say one word to
illustrate the importance of the last-mentioned class of evidence to the
genealogist, the topographer, or the archaeological inquirer in
general,--in one word, to those who enter into the spirit of the "NOTES
AND QUERIES." I beg, therefore, to submit the following inquiries:
1. Have the actual parishioners of a place a right to consult their own
register of baptisms, marriages, and burials, _gratuitously_? If not:--
2. What fee is _legally_ demandable,--and by whom,--and under what
restrictions? And--
3. Do the terms differ when the inquirer is not a _parishioner_? If so,
in what respect do they differ?
These inquiries have reference to the contents of the chests kept in, or
in connection with, parochial churches and chapels, and not to those in
the custody of the modern "Registrar." I need scarcely add, that my
concern is with the strictly _legal_ rights of search, and demand of
fees; and not as to what courtesy may concede, or usage sanction.