The Scottish Registration Act was tougher than the early English Registration Act in trying to keep an accurate record of births. In Scotland, parents had to register a child's birth within 21 days. If they failed to do so, the registrar was supposed to contact them, and if they did not give information within three months of the birth, they could be fined £2. As a safeguard, ministers were to inform the registrar if any baby was brought for baptism without an extract of its birth registration being shown (everyone registering a birth received this extract from the registrar free of charge). If a child was born outside the parish of the parents' usual residence, then the registrar who recorded the birth had to inform the home parish.
