VPRS 11025 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:Adoption 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.

治安法院（Courts of Petty Sessions）自1971年起更名为治安法庭（Magistrates' Courts），长期以来承办数量极为庞大的各类“轻微”司法事务。其审理的案件类型随时间推移不断演变且范围持续扩大，涵盖四大核心管辖范畴：刑事、民事、许可类及家事法律事务。除大量专门裁判庭外，治安法院/治安法庭是民事与刑事案件中最低层级的救济渠道。郡法院（County Court）、最高法院（Supreme Court）以及各类联邦法院负责审理和裁决更为严重的刑事案件与更大标的的民事纠纷。1886年起，许可类管辖权仅涵盖非酒类许可相关事务。
历届《治安法官法》（Justices' Acts）以及近年出台的《治安法庭法》（Magistrates' Court Acts）均要求各法院的书记员或登记官编制并留存所有定罪裁决、司法命令及其他诉讼程序的登记档案。此类登记档案是法院的权威官方记录。1888年前后，这类记录被称为“案由登记簿（Cause List Book）”。
最初，多数书记员会为法院全部或绝大多数业务维护一套统一的登记档案。本数据集系列包含的法院登记档案，混合了来自各类管辖范畴的案件。随后，法院书记员被要求为特定类型的案件分别设立独立登记档案。部分法院还开始为不同类型的案件增设额外登记档案。通常而言，会为以下类型的案件设立独立登记档案：
- 儿童收养：儿童收养相关案件（1928年至1958年）
- 民事/传票案件：以传票形式提请法院审理的案件
- 联邦管辖案件：联邦管辖权下的案件（1915年起）
- 家事法律：联邦家事法律管辖事务（1975年起）
- 许可类：酒类许可（1886年前）及非酒类许可申请
- 赡养纠纷：赡养案件（1928年至1975年）
- 警方/逮捕案件：由警方逮捕后提请法院审理的案件
- 准刑事类：以传票形式提起的刑事案件
- 特殊申诉：由法院裁定救济措施的民事案件（1928年至1979年）
当法院对案件登记进行细分时，每套登记档案都会被分配一个独特的维多利亚州公共记录系列（Victorian Public Record Series, VPRS）编号，且登记类型会被纳入系列标题中。
法院登记档案通常采用统一格式，记录内容包括案件编号、检察官或告发人（刑事案件中）、原告（民事案件中）或申请人（许可类事务中）的姓名、被告人或被申请人姓名、案件进入法院的方式（逮捕、搜查令、传票等）、产生的费用或诉讼成本、指控事由或诉讼缘由、裁决或命令内容以及备注信息。备注栏通常用于记录罚金与费用的缴纳情况。为确保登记条目真实有效，法院主审法官需在每日结束时签署登记档案。