VPRS 17012 Court of General Sessions Criminal Record Books, Bendigo

The Court of General Sessions exercised a purely criminal jurisdiction within the County Court. This record was created to record cases heard in the Court of General Sessions at a particular and after 1968, the criminal jurisdiction of the County Court on circuit at a particular location.In 1968 local County Courts and the Court of General Sessions were abolished and one County Court for the whole of Victoria was established. Therefore all cases after 1968 are criminal cases of the County Court sitting on circuit at a particular location.The County Court heard cases of a more serious nature than the Magistrates' Court. Cases heard included robbery, common assault and driving under the influence.The volumes in this series indicate the court and bailiwick, date of sitting, and name of judge across the top of each page, and contain the following information in columns: case number, name of accused, offence(s) charged, date of trial, defendants plea, verdict(s), sentence, date of sentence, jury members, judge and remarks.