VPRS 5088 Court of Petty Sessions Record Book

Courts of Petty Sessions, or Magistrates' Courts as they have been called since 1971, dealt with a very large range of minor court matters and provided the lowest level of redress in civil and criminal matters. By the 1850's, an authoritative record of all decisions and orders made by these Courts was required to be kept, known as the Record Book. Usually civil and criminal matters were recorded in the same volume, although the largest and busiest courts may have created separate civil and criminal books.Unlike the Court of Petty Sessions Cause List Books that ultimately replaced them from 1858, record books were not generally created in a common format. This means that the information recorded for each case can vary within a given book or between different courts. The following details were usually recorded:- name of the Court and date of sitting- name of the accused (in criminal cases)- names of the complainant and defendant (in civil cases)- the cause (i.e the criminal charge of nature of the civil complaint)- the decision, and- any remarks.Record books appear to have been replaced by Cause List Books, which were introduced in late 1858 and which were created in a common format. In some Courts a record book and cause list book were maintained simultaneously for a time, essentially detailing the same information for each case. In some Courts, it is possible that the record book after 1858 performed the same function as a Deposition Book.

治安法院（Courts of Petty Sessions，1971年起又称裁判法院（Magistrates' Courts））受理大量各类小额法庭案件，是民事与刑事案件领域的最低层级救济渠道。至19世纪50年代，官方要求留存此类法庭作出的所有判决与裁定的权威记录，即《记录册（Record Book）》。通常民事与刑事案件会被录入同一卷册，但规模最大、业务最繁忙的法庭可能会分别设立民事、刑事两类记录册。与1858年起最终取代此类记录册的《治安法院案件清单册（Court of Petty Sessions Cause List Books）》不同，《记录册》通常并未采用统一格式。这意味着，单份卷册内部或不同法庭之间，个案记录的内容可能存在差异。通常会记录以下信息：
- 法庭名称与开庭日期
- 刑事案件中的被告人姓名
- 民事案件中的原告与被告姓名
- 案由（即刑事指控类别或民事申诉事由）
- 判决结果
- 备注信息

《记录册》似乎在1858年年底推出的《案件清单册（Cause List Books）》的替代下退出使用，后者采用统一格式编制。部分法庭曾在一段时期内同时留存《记录册》与《案件清单册》，二者本质上会为每个案件记录完全相同的信息。在部分法庭中，1858年后的《记录册》可能承担了与《证词记录册（Deposition Book）》相同的职能。