VPRS 6113 Court of Petty Sessions Default Registers

The 1904 Justices' Act incorporated the system of judgement by default into the civil jurisdiction of Courts of Petty Sessions. This system provided that where a court issued a summons to a defendant for a civil claim and the defendant did not respond to the summons by giving notice of his or her intention to defend the claim, a judgement could be made against the defendant without a formal court hearing. This default procedure could be used in cases where the amount claimed was within the jurisdictional limit of the court and could be calculated according to a set scale. Where the amount of the claim could not be determined in this manner, but rather had to be judged by the court, the default procedure could not be used. By 1928 non-default cases were known as special complaints and were usually registered in separate Special Complaints Registers.Within the procedure for judgement by default two types of summonses were issued to initiate a proceeding. Where an ordinary default summons was issued and no defence was lodged, an order was made in favour of the complainant provided that the summons provided sufficient detail of the particulars of the claim. Where a special default summons was issued and no defence was lodged, the complainant was required to file further affidavits with the court to verify the particulars of the claim.Although the procedure for judgement by default still operates within Magistrates Courts, the terminology of Special Complaints and Default Cases is no longer used and the separate registration of these cases is no longer maintained.Default Registers (or Default Summons Registers) are generally in a common format, giving details of the case number, the name of the complainant, the name of the defendant, how the case came to the court (type and date of summons), a description of the cause or proceeding, the decision or order and any remarks. In order to authenticate entries made in the register the presiding stipendiary magistrate signed it at the end of each day.