the registrar themselves within seven days. If they failed to do so they were liable for a ten-pound fine. This was inadequate to guarantee all deaths were registered, since in principle a body could be buried without a religious service, and those who hadn't been baptized (mostly young children) didn't qualify for Christian burial. From 1845 the cause of death had to be certified by a doctor before registration. A death would normally be registered in the district in which it occurred. Once a death has been registered, the registrar would normally issue a Certificate for Burial or Cremation, unless the death were being investigated by the coroner or there were an inquest. This certificate would give permission for the body to be buried or for an application for cremation to be made. The Births and Deaths Act 1874 tried to ensure all deaths were registered, by placing a duty on the persons who were supposed to register the death to do so. No specific penalty was imposed if they failed to do it, but if the registrar became aware of any deaths that hadn't been registered within the past year, then the registrar had a duty and was empowered to summon the negligent parties to the register office to get it registered. If the death had occurred more than a year previously, it wasn't to be registered late without special permission. A different registration system operates in other parts of the United Kingdom. The GRO indexes Every three months, at the end of March, June, September and December, the superintendent registrars send a copy of each entry of birth, marriage and death registered by their office in that quarter, to the Registrar General in London. From these returns the General Register Office produces indexes to its records, which are open to public inspection, and the indexes can be used to order birth, marriage and death certificates. With the exception of some extra details recorded on death certificates since 1969, the information given on certificates of birth, marriage and death has not changed since 1837, but the amount of information given in the index volumes has increased from time to time. Up until 1983, the copies received by the Registrar General were bound into volumes and three separate alphabetical indexes were prepared on a quarterly basis. The number of volumes depends on the number of people registered in each quarter.