REGISTER, a public book, in whirl" is entered and recorded memoirs, acts,: and minutes, to be had recourse to occasional ly, for knowing and proving matters of fact. Of these there are several kinds ; as, 1. Registers of deeds in Yorkshire and Middlesex, in which are registered all deeds, conveyances, wills, &c. that affect any lands or tenements in those counties, which are otherwise void against any sub sequent purchasers, or mortgagees, &c. ; but this does not extend to any copyhold estate, nor to leases at a rack-rent, or where they do not exceed twenty-one years. The registered memorials must be engrossed on parChment, under the hand and seal of some of the grantors or grantees, attested by witnesses who are to prove the signing or sealing of them, and the execution of the deed. But these registers, which are confined to two coun ties, are in Scotland general, by which the laws of NOrth Britain are rendered very easy and regular. Of these there are two kinds : the one general, fixed at Edinburgh, under the direction of the Lord Register ; and the other is kept in the several shires, stewartries, and regali.
ties, the clerks of which are obliged to transmit the registers of their respective courts to the general register. No man in Scotland can have a right to any estate, but it must become registered within for ty days of his becoming seized thereof; by which means all secret convey antes are cut off. 2. Parish registers are books in which are registered the baptisms, marriages, and burials of each parish.
Among dissenters who admit of infant baptism, each minister is supposed to keep a register of the several children baptized by him. But as these are fre quently lost, by the succession of new mi nisters to the same congregation ; or at best do not give an account of the date of the births, which may have happened ma ny weeks or months before baptism ; it is now almost generally the custom among dissenters of all denominations to register the births of their children at the Library in Red-cross Street, Cripplegate, for which the charge is sixpence. This re gister is admitted in the courts of law.