Civil Records: Family Books

In France, the ​livret de famille is administered by the civil register when a couple is officially married. In this book are listed the names of the parents with the date and place of their births and marriage. At the birth of each child, a parent, usually the father, takes the livret de famille to the civil register, where the information from the birth entry in the civil register is copied onto the appropriate page for each child and is signed and sealed, making it an officially recognized document.

It is thought that the tradition started after the fire in the Paris City Hall in 1871 that destroyed all birth, marriage, and death records. This practice was formally adopted by the government in 1877 so that a second copy of all vital records would be available.