Registers of baptisms and burials

(1) The registers of baptisms and burials kept by the ministers in Belize of the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Church, and the Baptist Church, and copies and extracts from such registers, certified to be true under the hand of the minister having the custody of any such register, shall be received in all courts of law and in all legal proceedings as prima facie evidence of the facts and matters therein contained. (2) Every minister of religion who wilfully inserts or causes to be inserted in any register or book of baptisms or burials any false entry of any baptisms or burial, or gives any false certificate, or certifies any entry to be a copy or extract of any register or book of baptisms or burials, knowing the same to be false in any part of such entry, commits a misdemeanour, and on conviction thereof is liable to a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.