Civil-status registers and population registers: battling brothers or Siamese twins?

Abstract

In this presentation, the relation between the civil-status registry and the population registers will be exemplified by means of three countries: Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. All three countries have a system of certificates of civil status. In Belgium and the Netherlands, this system was introduced during the period these countries were part of the French empire. In Germany, the French civil code was only applicable on a part of its territory. Within the whole German territory, the system of certificates of civil status was not introduced before the foundation of the German empire in the 1870's. All three countries introduced next to the civil registry system also a population register.