Commentary on Sections and Schedules Part 2: Registration Service Section 68 Establishment of Registrar General as corporation sole
245.Before the commencement of this Act, the rights and liabilities of the Registrar General for England and Wales were the responsibility of the office-holder. This section establishes the Registrar General for England and Wales as a corporation sole. The effect of this is to separate the rights and liabilities of the post of Registrar General from the office-holder.
246.It also provides for perpetual succession of those rights and liabilities between office holders, as a change of office holders would have no legal significance in contractual terms. The section also confirms that the Registrar General discharges his functions on behalf of the Crown and that the Registrar General is not a civil servant (although this would not prevent a civil servant being appointed as Registrar General).