VPRS 11036 Court of Petty Sessions/Magistrates' Court 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（1971年起称为治安法院）处理范围广泛的“轻微”法院事务。其审理的案件类型随时间演变并不断增加，涵盖四大司法管辖领域：刑事、民事、许可及家庭法。除众多审裁处外，小额诉讼法院/治安法院是民事及刑事事项中的最低层级救济机构。县法院、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。历届《司法官法》及近年的《治安法院法》要求各法院书记员或注册官制作并保存所有定罪、命令及其他法院程序的登记册。该登记册是法院的权威记录，直至1888年左右被称为案件列表簿（Cause List Book）。最初，大多数书记员为法院全部或大部分业务维护单一登记册。本系列包含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，部分法院亦开始为不同类型案件维护额外登记册。通常，针对以下案件设立单独登记册：收养儿童登记册（1928-1958年儿童收养案件）、民事/传票登记册（经传票提交法院的案件）、联邦登记册（1915年起联邦管辖事项）、家庭法登记册（1975年起联邦家庭法事项）、许可登记册（1886年前酒类许可及非酒类许可申请）、抚养登记册（1928-1975年抚养案件）、警方/逮捕登记册（经警方逮捕提交法院的案件）、准刑事登记册（经传票提交的准刑事案件）、特别申诉登记册（1928-1979年由法院裁定救济的民事案件）。若法院对案件登记进行细分，则每个登记册会被分配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标题。