VPRS 4892 Court of Petty Sessions Registers

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年起称为治安法院）处理范围广泛的"轻微"法院事务。所审理的案件类型随时间推移不断变化并增多，主要涵盖四大管辖领域：刑事、民事、许可及家庭法。除大量专门法庭外，小额诉讼法院/治安法院是民事及刑事案件中的最低救济级别法院。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更大规模的民事纠纷。自1886年起，许可管辖范围仅包含非酒类许可事项。

历任《法官法案》及后续的《治安法院法案》要求各法院书记员或登记员制作并保存所有定罪、命令及其他法院程序的登记册，该登记册为法院的权威记录。直至1888年，此类记录被称为"案件清单簿"（Cause List Book）。最初，大多数书记员使用单一登记册记录所有或大部分法院事务；随后，法院书记员被指示为特定类型案件创建单独登记册，部分法院亦开始为不同案件类型维护额外登记册。通常，单独登记册包括以下类型：

收养儿童登记册：用于记录儿童收养案件（1928年至1958年）
民事/传票登记册：用于记录通过传票提交的案件
联邦事务登记册：用于联邦管辖事项（1915年起）
家庭法登记册：用于联邦家庭法管辖事项（1975年起）
许可登记册：用于酒类（1886年前）及非酒类许可申请
赡养案件登记册：用于赡养案件（1928年至1975年）
警方/逮捕案件登记册：用于通过警方逮捕提交的案件
准登记册：用于通过传票提交的刑事案件
特殊投诉登记册：用于法院裁定救济的民事案件（1928年至1979年）

对于已细分案件登记的法院，每个登记册均分配有不同的维多利亚公共记录系列（VPRS）编号，且登记册类型会纳入系列名称中。

法院登记册通常采用通用格式，包含以下细节：案件编号、检察官或举报人（刑事案件）、投诉人（民事案件）、申请人（许可事项）、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、指控或事项描述、裁决或命令，以及备注（备注栏常记录罚款及费用支付情况）。为认证登记册中的条目，法院主审官员需在每日工作结束时签字确认。