There aren't any Oxfordshire registers on FreeREG, because it's been refused permission to transcribe the registers, but there have been many Oxfordshire registers on the IGI for as long as I've been looking at it, i.e since 2001. Perhaps the IGI entries were transcribed before the ban was imposed. I've wondered about that ban. The registers themselves are the property of the church, & I think it has the same copyright as the Crown on them - but that's on the page as it is written, not the information on it, & it isn't permanent. Copyright expires. The information (A married B on such & such a date, etc.) is in the public domain, & always has been. It can not be copyrighted. Marriages, etc. are public acts, for public purposes. The only control the church has is access to the physical registers, where it can impose conditions in return for granting access. On 15/11/2011 11:06, Hugh Kearsey wrote: > Elizabeth, > > Some observations on the problem! > > I thought that no Oxfordshire Registers or BTs were supposed to be available > on the Internet, but they are noted as available on the IGI (and are now on > the new Family Search site). > > Hugh Kearsey >

There are a lot of parishes that refuse transcriptions, items can only be taken from registers for personal use any passing on of this information to a third unrelated person can be challenged in court. Case law says it would be upheld and the perpetrators found guilty. Pewsey in Wiltshire is a parish that has continually denied access to anyone except relations.

As I said, this is a restriction imposed by the church (in this case, presumably a succession of incumbents) as a condition of access to the physical registers. It's a contract between the parish & the person who consults the register, & is enforceable. But it is not generally applicable. The parish does not own the information in the register (except for any comments by whoever made the entries). It is in the public domain. I'd be interested in the case or cases you refer to. On 15/11/2011 13:39, Chalk wrote: > There are a lot of parishes that refuse transcriptions, items can only be > taken from registers for personal use any passing on of this information to > a third unrelated person can be challenged in court. Case law says it would > be upheld and the perpetrators found guilty. Pewsey in Wiltshire is a > parish that has continually denied access to anyone except relations. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Interactive Oxfordshire parish map: http://searches.oxfordshirefhs.org.uk/pardata.html > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to OXFORDSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >