Daily Ancestorétat civil
État civil is French civil registration: births, marriages and deaths recorded by the town hall in France from 1792.
In France the état civil was taken from the clergy and given to the municipalities by a law of 20 September 1792. Records were kept at the mairie in two copies, one of which goes to the departmental archives after 100 years, and the clergy kept separate church registers.
Quebec was different: from 1679 to 1993 most of its vital records were the government copies of church registers. Civil registration without a church record was possible from 1926, and the government kept separate vital records from 1994.
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Daily Ancestor. "état civil." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/french/etat-civil. Last checked 2026-10-28.