VPRS 5233 Special Complaints Register

The special jurisdiction of Courts of Petty Sessions was formally established by the Justices' Act 1928. From this time there were two mechanisms within Courts of Petty Sessions/Magistrates' Courts for the redress of civil complaints.The "ordinary jurisdiction empowered the court to determine cases for damages or debts where the precise amount of the claim could be determined according to some objective scale. An example would be the recovery of a debt for goods delivered. Claims brought to court in the ordinary civil jurisdiction often used the system of judgement by default. This system provided that where a respondent did not respond to a summons by giving notice of his or her intention to defend the claim, a judgement could be made in favour of the complainant without a formal court hearing.In its "special jurisdiction the court itself determined the appropriate amount of redress and operated within a higher jurisdictional limit. Claims for damages arising out of a motor vehicle accident were typically handled in the special jurisdiction. In the special jurisdiction a stipendiary magistrate would preside rather than justices of the peace.The Magistrates' Courts (Civil Jurisdiction) Act 1979 abolished the distinction between ordinary and special complaints and established a single civil jurisdiction.A separate register was required to be kept for recording special complaints. Special Complaints Registers are generally in a common format, giving details of the case number, the name of the complainant, the name of the respondent, 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.

1928年《治安法官法》（Justices' Act 1928）正式确立了即决裁判法院（Courts of Petty Sessions）的特殊管辖权（special jurisdiction）。自此，即决裁判法院/治安法院（Magistrates' Courts）内设有两类民事申诉救济机制。“普通管辖权（ordinary jurisdiction）”赋予法院就损害赔偿或债务纠纷作出裁判的权力，前提是索赔精确金额可依据某一客观标准确定，例如追讨已交付货物的欠款。适用普通民事管辖权的诉讼通常采用“缺席判决（judgement by default）”制度，即若被申请人未提交应诉意向通知书以回应传票，法院可不经正式庭审直接作出有利于申诉人的判决。在“特殊管辖权”模式下，法院自行裁定适当的救济金额，且受更高的管辖权限额约束。机动车事故引发的损害赔偿索赔通常由特殊管辖权程序处理，该模式下由领薪治安法官（stipendiary magistrate）主持庭审，而非太平绅士（justices of the peace）。1979年《治安法院（民事管辖权）法》（Magistrates' Courts (Civil Jurisdiction) Act 1979）废除了普通申诉与特殊申诉的区分，确立了统一的民事管辖权。彼时需单独设立登记册以记录特殊申诉案件，特殊申诉登记册（Special Complaints Registers）通常采用统一格式，记载案件编号、申诉人姓名、被申请人姓名、案件启动方式（传票类型及日期）、案由或诉讼程序说明、裁判或裁定结果及备注信息。为确保登记条目的真实性，每日庭审结束后，主持庭审的领薪治安法官需对登记册进行签字确认。