The purpose of the law is to determine the legal regime of civil status in Niger. It institutes a civil status system, which is the set of qualities inherent to a person that the law takes into consideration in order to attach legal effects to that person. The law governs declarations of civil status facts.
The Act consolidates the laws relating to the registration of births and deaths in Lesotho. It makes compulsory the registration of the birth of a child, whether born alive or still-born, and of the death of any person dying after the commencement of the Act (section 3). The office of the Registrar General is the general register office for keeping the register of all births and deaths occurring in Lesotho (section 4).