50 year closure on Marriages

[Ruskie]

Lucky you were not buying the certificates for evil means Annie. 

[Nanna52]

I just checked the Victorian BDM and it is 60 years after the registration.

[Rosinish]

Lucky you were not buying the certificates for evil means Annie. 

Indeed Ruskie but equally those registrations are accessible at New Register House (Edinburgh) i.e. I would like to know where/when/who/what reasons 'privacy' relates to in this day & age 

It seems to me to be 'at/not at liberty' depending on who/where/when i.e. no definite rule across the board.

Annie

[DavidG02]

I just checked the Victorian BDM and it is 60 years after the registration.

The online site only has 1950 and before

Pedantic I know

[Nanna52]

I just checked the Victorian BDM and it is 60 years after the registration.

The online site only has 1950 and before

Pedantic I know

So they are taking their time putting them up.   

[Ruskie]

Lucky you were not buying the certificates for evil means Annie. 

Indeed Ruskie but equally those registrations are accessible at New Register House (Edinburgh) i.e. I would like to know where/when/who/what reasons 'privacy' relates to in this day & age 

It seems to me to be 'at/not at liberty' depending on who/where/when i.e. no definite rule across the board.

Annie

It doesn't help that privacy is so different from country to country and state to state. Sometimes I wonder if they haven't thought it through properly. Rather than tightening up it seems they are becoming more lax in some areas.

[GrahamSimons]

Replying from England, so legislation different to Australia.
The fact of a marriage is public, as the marriage ceremony is a public one. So Joe Smith married Jane Jones on 15th June 1986 in Somewheresville isn't really anything that must be protected. Indeed there's a good chance that it'll me mentioned in the local Press as well; and a more recent marriage will be on Facebook or similar. With a bit of diligent searching of newspapers it would often be possible to establish a MMN, for example.
So the issue is about protecting other personal data on the marriage certificate. However the only sensible way to do that is to restrict access to the entire certificate (as I've discovered when researching Canadian records).

[cando]

I just checked the Victorian BDM and it is 60 years after the registration.

I just checked the Victorian BDM and it is 60 years after the registration.

The online site only has 1950 and before

Pedantic I know

In Victoria it would now appear that Marriage certificates to 1950 are considered historical ie no identity requirements from the applicant wishing to purchase a certificate. It was for many years to 1942 and then 1945. 

Previously I understood that both parties to the marriage had to be deceased before a certificate would be issued to a third party who would have to cite a reason for requiring the certificate and attach copies of their identification.  I'm horrified at this recent change in Victoria.  I have many friends who married in the late 1950's and I'm in the 1960's.  I hope that the 'both parties must be deceased' still stands.

Cando

[majm]

I think ACT and Qld are 75 years restricted before members of general public can gain access.

Perhaps if our Federal government were to consider harmonising the laws between the states and territories under one federal piece of legislation for modelling across all the eight jurisdictions, perhaps 80 years on marriage certs would be reassuring for those who are living and who are clearly identifible from the info on these registrations....   

Remembering these certificates include information about the bride, the groom, their ancestors, but also information about the witnesses.  For rural families, giving informationa about the usual residence of the bride / groom is often giving CURRENT information, not just historic information.  Even city folk can stay at same address for generations.   I have several relatives who are in their 90s and 100s, and still living at same address as shown against their name on the NSW electoral rolls that Ancestry has uploaded.   One cousin born in 1920s still lives at same address as his  grandparents who are listed as per electoral rolls for 1902.   That cousin is most concerned about personal privacy, and is following this thread, although not an RChatter. 

JM