Libro Primero · Título II · Capítulo XI Párrafo III. Registro de defunciones

Every death occurring in the Republic must be registered in the Civil Register of the place where the person died.

The head of the house or establishment where any person has died and the other persons referred to in Articles 392 to 394 are obligated to give notice to the Civil Registry, personally or through another person, within a period not exceeding twenty-four hours.

In places located outside the towns where the Register is located, the agents of the authority shall permit the burial of the corpse, having previously received the report which they shall transmit to said Register, within the indicated term, plus that for distance.

In addition to the formalities required by this Code to draw up the death entry, a medical certificate shall be necessary. If there is no physician in the place, the certificate may be issued by an empiric or the chief of police of the place.

The certificate shall state, insofar as possible, the name and domicile that the deceased had, the immediate cause of death and the day and hour on which it occurred, the physician having to state whether these circumstances are known to him from personal knowledge or from third-party reports.

The certificate shall be presented to the officer in charge of the register by the person obligated to declare the death, and may be required on its own initiative by that public official from the physicians.

The registrar, when he doubts the authenticity of the certification, may cause the person who issued it to appear at his office to ratify it in his presence.

The death entry shall be signed by those who gave the notice, if they know how to sign, and by the registrar.

The death record shall state, insofar as possible:

1°.The given name, surname, age, sex, origin, domicile or residence, profession or occupation of the deceased person, indicating the given name and surname of the spouse, if the deceased had been married;

2°.The place, date and time at which the death occurred and the illness or cause of death;

3°.The given names and surnames of the father and of the mother of the deceased, if known;

4°.Whether the deceased made a will and before whom; and

5°.The given names, surnames, ages, professions and domiciles of the declarants.

If it is a case of an abandoned corpse, the registration shall contain, if possible, the data referred to in the preceding article and, in any event:

1.The place where the corpse was found;

2.The state in which it was;

3.The sex and age it appears to be; and

4.The description of the clothing it wore and any other circumstances or indications that may serve to identify the person of the deceased.

Whenever further data are acquired, they shall be noted in the margin of the record.

The persons in charge of cemeteries shall keep in a book an exact record of the burials that occur in the month, with separate indication of those who died in hospitals and public assistance establishments, with reference to the certificate issued by the Civil Registry, and monthly shall send to the person in charge of the Register a copy of the entries from the book of burials, so that the person in charge of the Register may compare them with those in the respective book. The registrar shall report to the judge any differences observed, so that the judge may investigate the cause thereof.

In case of death on board a vessel sailing in waters of the Republic, it shall be the obligation of the captain of the vessel to bring it to the knowledge of the authority of the first national port where it arrives, so that it may be recorded in the Civil Register of the port.

Where the death has occurred on the high seas or in foreign jurisdictional waters, on a vessel sailing under the flag of the Republic, the captain shall have the same obligation.

With respect to those who die on campaign or in any combat or encounter, in the territory of the Republic, the one who has command of the troops is obligated to bring the deaths that have occurred to the knowledge of his superior, so that the latter shall cause them to be recorded by the appropriate person.

The one who commands troops shall have the same obligation with respect to the deaths occurring therein, outside the Republic.

The judgment declaring the presumption of death of a person shall be registered in the Civil Register of the domicile of the person presumed dead.

When there is certain notice of the facts referred to in Article 64, the death shall be entered in the register of the victims’ place of residence. For the cases of subparagraphs b) and c) of Article 64, the authority of the national port or airport from which the vessel had departed and the consul of the Republic at the port or airport of its destination shall give notice of the casualty to their hierarchical superiors, so that the deaths that occurred may be entered.

If any person dies outside the place of his domicile, the registrar who receives the declaration of death shall register it and communicate it, within the time limit of ten days, to the registrar of the place where the deceased had his domicile, if that circumstance is established, so that it may be annotated in the birth entry.

In case of clandestine burial, the death shall not be registered except by judicial order issued in the proceedings that, for such purpose, must be instituted.