VPRS 6630 Court of Petty Sessions/Magistrates' Court Register (includes Special Complaints Registers 1974-1980 and Commonwealth Case Registers 1973-1981)

This series records cases heard in the Hastings Court of Petty Sessions / Magistrates' Court. During the period 1973 to 1981 registers for other jurisdictions were kept within the same covers as those for the Magistrates' Court - Ordinary Registers. These registers are:- Special Complaints from 1974 to 1980 (Registers prior to 1974 are held in VPRS 6632), and- Commonwealth Cases from 1973 to 1981 - (Registers prior to 1973 are held in VPRS 8706).The Children's Court Registers spanning the period 1978 - 1982 were found within the volumes of this series but these were removed and added to VPRS 8705 Children's Court Registers.Hastings Courts were officially closed in 1990. Registers for the period 1978 to 1988 are still in the custody of Dromana Courts as at November 1993.The Jurisdiction of Courts of Petty Sessions and Magistrates' CourtsCourts of Petty Sessions, or Magistrates' Courts as they have been called since 1971, dealt with a very large range of "minor" court matters. Apart from a large number of tribunals, they provide the lowest level of redress in civil and criminal matters, with the County Court, the Supreme Court and various Commonwealth courts hearing and determining more serious criminal cases and larger civil disputes.The jurisdiction of Courts of Petty Sessions / Magistrates' Courts has changed, and on the whole increased over time, but has usually included the following types of cases:The criminal jurisdiction includes all offences under Summary Offences legislation including traffic offences, minor assault and drug offences, obscene language, trespass. A number of more serious offences known as indictable offences may be tried in either the Petty Sessions/Magistrates' Court or a higher court. These include theft up to a certain value, burglary, indecent assault, offences against prostitution regulation legislation, criminal damage to property, occupational health and safety offences. Committal proceedings are also conducted in Courts of Petty Sessions/Magistrates' Courts in order to determine whether a case involving a more serious offence should proceed to a higher court.The civil jurisdiction includes claims for debts arising out of contractual disputes, claims for losses arising out of a breach of duty such as negligence, claims for damages arising out of motor vehicle accidents or assaults and claims for taxes due.The licensing jurisdiction has diminished in the twentieth century. At different times it has included the issue of licenses for gold buyers, auctioneers, carriers, pawnbrokers, estate agents, commercial agents and sub agents, inquiry agents, hawkers and pedlars. By 1991 the only licences still issued by Magistrates' Courts were for commercial agents and sub-agents and hawkers and pedlars.The family law jurisdiction includes matters relating to child support assessment, maintenance, custody, guardianship, access, change of name, marriage of under age persons, property interests of de facto partners and, since 1987, family violence intervention orders. From the ?1930's until the ?1950's Courts of Petty Sessions were also responsible for granting adoptions.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.ArrangementEntries in the volumes were made in chronological order of the date they came before the court and each case received a consecutive number. In the nineteenth century many courts used a system whereby the case number reverted to 1 each day, thus cases were identified by the date of hearing and their number. For most of the twentieth century and until the introduction of "Courtlink" (the computerised case registration and management system used by many Victorian courts) in the late 1980's an annual numbering system was used, thus the case numbering system reverted to 1 at the beginning of each year. This number, allocated at the time of entry in the register (usually a few days before the case), was also annotated onto all documents lodged with the court during the case.Related RecordsOther types of registers from this court are listed in the Inventory of Series.Several types of warrants, summonses, informations (ie statements by witnesses and parties to the case informing the court about the case) and other documents were also lodged with or created by the court in the course of administering each case. The documents were known as "process" and were placed together to create a case file. In most instances these files have been destroyed about fifteen years after the completion of the case to which they relate.1980's: Use of Process to form RegisterIn about 1980 many courts ceased to use bound volumes to maintain a court register and began the practice of recording the court's decision on the summons or warrant issued by the court to initiate proceedings. This document was annotated by the presiding Magistrate with his or her decision then filed in case number order with other initiating documents to form a register. Some courts subsequently placed these documents in masonite folders or lever arch files whilst at other courts the court register for this period is simply bundles of papers.1990's: Electronic Registration of Court CasesIn 1988 the Courts Management Division of the Attorney-General's Department commenced introducing a computerised case management system known as "Courtlink". Courtlink was introduced into all courts between 1988 and 1993 and replaced the former manual registers. Courtlink uses one system of case numbering for all Victorian Magistrates' Court Cases. It records the same types of information as previously recorded in the manual registers, and additionally includes several pieces of information used to manage caseflow and enforcement.