VPRS 2921 Court of Petty Sessions Register

Court RegistersSuccessive Justices' Acts and, more recently, Magistrates' Court Acts have required the clerk or registrar of the 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 usually called a Cause List Book and had a slightly different format, since then the term Register has been used.Initially most clerks maintained a single sequence of registers for all or most of the court's business. However in the twentieth century some courts have maintained several sequences of registers according to different types of matters dealt with by the court. Typically criminal matters have been registered separately from civil matters, matters under Commonwealth legislation, matters relating to traffic offences, licensing applications and various types of civil cases have all been registered separately. Some courts dealing with a large number of criminal cases have maintained separate registers for matters brought to court by summons and by arrest, and some have used separate volumes for each courtroom. Where courts have subdivided the registration of cases into several sequences, each has been allocated a different Victorian Public Record Series number and the specific type of register has been included in the series title. The inventory of series for this court lists other types of registers used.ContentRegisters 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.