VPRS 2429 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:Register Used ForAdoption of Children Adoption of children (1928 to 1958)Civil/Summons Cases brought to court by summonsCommonwealth Commonwealth jurisdiction (from 1915)Family Law Commonwealth family law jurisdiction (from 1975)Licence Liquor (pre 1886) and non-liquor licence applicationsMaintenance Maintenance cases (1928 to 1975)Police/Arrest Cases brought to court by police arrestQuasi Criminal cases brought by summonsSpecial Complaints 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（Courts of Petty Sessions）自1971年起更名为治安法院（Magistrates' Courts），处理范围极广的“轻微”法院事务。受理案件类型随时间演变并增多，大致分为四大管辖领域：刑事、民事、许可及家庭法。除众多特别法庭外，小额诉讼法院/治安法院是民事与刑事案件中的最低救济层级。郡法院、最高法院及各类联邦法院则审理并裁决更严重的刑事案件与较大的民事纠纷。自1886年起，许可管辖范围仅包含非酒类许可事务。历任《司法官法案》（Justices' Acts）及近年的《治安法院法案》均要求各法院书记员或登记员制作并保存所有定罪、命令及其他诉讼程序的登记簿。此登记簿为法院的权威记录。直至1888年左右，该记录被称为“案件清单簿”（Cause List Book）。最初，多数书记员为法院所有或大部分业务维护单一登记簿。本系列包含混合各类管辖案件的法院登记簿。随后，法院书记员奉命为特定类型案件创建单独登记簿。部分法院亦开始为不同类型案件维护额外登记簿。典型的单独登记簿涵盖以下案件类型：儿童收养（1928年至1958年）、民事/传票（通过传票提交法院的案件）、联邦（联邦管辖案件，自1915年起）、家庭法（联邦家庭法管辖案件，自1975年起）、许可（酒类许可，1886年前及非酒类许可申请）、抚养费（1928年至1975年）、警方/逮捕（由警方逮捕提交法院的案件）、准刑事（通过传票提交的准刑事案件）、特别申诉（法院裁决救济的民事案件，1928年至1979年）。凡法院对案件登记进行细分之处，每份登记簿均被分配不同的维多利亚公共记录系列（VPRS）编号，且登记簿类型已纳入系列标题。法院登记簿通常采用通用格式，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（许可事务）、被告姓名、案件提交法院的方式（逮捕、逮捕令、传票等）、产生的费用或诉讼费、指控、案由或诉讼程序描述、裁决或命令及任何备注。备注栏常被用于记录罚款及费用的支付情况。为认证登记簿中的条目，法院主审官员需在每日结束时签署登记簿。