VPRS 12500 Court of Petty Sessions Register

Courts of Petty Sessions, known since 1971 as Magistrates' Courts, have dealt with a very large range of "minor" court matters. The types of cases heard, which have changed and increased over time, fall within four broad jurisdictions: criminal, civil, licensing and family law. Apart from a large number of tribunals, Courts of Petty Sessions/Magistrates' Courts provide the lowest level of redress in civil and criminal matters. The County Court, the Supreme Court and various Commonwealth courts have heard and determined more serious criminal cases and larger civil disputes. The licensing jurisdiction since 1886 has comprised non-liquor licensing matters only.Successive Justices' Acts, and more recently Magistrates' Court Acts, have required the clerk or registrar of each Court to make and keep a register of all convictions, orders and other proceedings of the Court. This register is the authoritative record of the Court. Until about 1888 this record was known as a Cause List Book.Initially, most clerks maintained a single register for all or most of the Court's business. This series comprises a Court Register which includes a mixture of cases from the various jurisdictions. Subsequently Clerks of Court were instructed to create separate registers for certain types of cases. Some Courts also began to maintain additional registers for different types of cases. Typically, separate registers have been established for the following cases:Adoption of Children RegisterUsed for: Adoption of children (1928 to 1958)Civil/Summons RegisterUsed for: Cases brought to court by summonsCommonwealth RegisterUsed for: Commonwealth jurisdiction (from 1915)Family Law RegisterUsed for: Commonwealth family law jurisdiction (from 1975)Licence RegisterUsed for: Liquor (pre 1886) and non-liquor licence applicationsMaintenance RegisterUsed for: Maintenance cases (1928 to 1975)Police/Arrest RegisterUsed for: Cases brought to court by police arrestQuasi RegisterUsed for: Criminal cases brought by summonsSpecial Complaints RegisterUsed for: Civil cases where Court determines redress (1928 to 1979)Where courts have subdivided the registration of cases, each Register has been allocated a different Victorian Public Record Series (VPRS) number and the type of register has been included in the series title.Court Registers are generally in a common format, giving details of the case number, the name of the prosecutor or informant (in a criminal matter), complainant (in a civil matter), or applicant (in a licensing matter), the name of the accused or defendant, how the case came to the court (arrest, warrant, summons etc), the fees or court costs accrued, a description of the charge, cause or proceeding, the decision or order and any remarks. The column for remarks was often used to record the payment of fines and fees. In order to authenticate entries made in the register the presiding officer(s) of the court signed the register at the end of each day.

小额诉讼法院（1971年起更名为治安法院）处理各类“轻微”法庭事务。审理的案件类型随时间变化且不断增多，大致分为四大管辖领域：刑事、民事、许可及家庭法。除众多裁判庭（tribunal）外，小额诉讼法院/治安法院是民事和刑事事务中的最低层级救济机构。郡法院、最高法院及各类联邦法院负责审理和裁决更严重的刑事案件及较大的民事纠纷。许可管辖范围自1886年起仅包含非酒类许可事务。

历届《司法法》及近年的《治安法院法》要求各法院的书记员或登记员制作并保存所有定罪、命令及其他法庭诉讼程序的登记册。该登记册是法院的权威记录。直至1888年左右，此类记录被称为案件清单簿（Cause List Book）。

最初，大多数书记员为法院的全部或大部分业务维护单一登记册。本系列包含一个综合各类管辖案件的法院登记册。随后，法院书记员奉命为特定类型案件创建单独登记册。部分法院还开始为不同类型案件维护额外登记册。

通常，已为以下案件设立单独登记册：
- 儿童收养登记册：用于儿童收养案件（1928-1958年）
- 民事/传票登记册：用于通过传票提交法院的案件
- 联邦登记册：用于联邦管辖案件（1915年起）
- 家庭法登记册：用于联邦家庭法管辖案件（1975年起）
- 许可登记册：用于酒类（1886年前）及非酒类许可申请
- 抚养费登记册：用于抚养费案件（1928-1975年）
- 警方/逮捕登记册：用于警方逮捕提交法院的案件
- 准登记册：用于通过传票提交的刑事案件
- 特别投诉登记册：用于法院裁决救济的民事案件（1928-1979年）

当法院对案件登记进行细分时，每个登记册都会被分配一个不同的维多利亚州公共记录系列（VPRS）编号，且登记册类型会包含在系列标题中。

法院登记册通常采用通用格式，包含案件编号、检察官或举报人姓名（刑事案件）、原告姓名（民事案件）或申请人姓名（许可案件）、被告人或被告姓名、案件提交法院的方式（逮捕、逮捕令、传票等）、产生的费用或法庭成本、指控、事由或诉讼程序描述、裁决或命令及任何备注。备注栏通常用于记录罚款和费用的支付情况。为验证登记册中的条目，法院主审官员需在每日结束时签署登记册。