VPRS 17776 Police Court Minutes Book

This series consists of a single Police Court Minutes Book created by Sale Courts [VA 4009].Court minute books typically record details of proceedings, such as the date, the presiding magistrate, lists of jurors empanelled, the cases heard with the name of the defendant, the charge and the verdict or the sentence given for sessions where sentencing was being carried out.Police Magistrates - These Magistrates were government officials who had originally been responsible for supervising police in their district. A Police Magistrate moved around and was able to set up whenever and wherever required too. This included locations such as tents or hotels. All Police Magistrates had some sort of formal training, many having been promoted from clerks of courts.In 1948, the title of Police Magistrate was changed to Stipendiary Magistrate and on the 1st April 1970, there was a further change when the name of the Court of Petty Sessions, which was taken from New South Wales, was changed to the Magistrates' Court.