VPRS 10748 Court of Petty Sessions Register

Courts of Petty Sessions, known since 1971 as Magistrates' Courts, have dealt with a very large range of "minor" court matters. The types of cases heard, which have changed and increased over time, fall within four broad jurisdictions: criminal, civil, licensing and family law. Apart from a large number of tribunals, Courts of Petty Sessions/Magistrates' Courts provide the lowest level of redress in civil and criminal matters. The County Court, the Supreme Court and various Commonwealth courts have heard and determined more serious criminal cases and larger civil disputes. The licensing jurisdiction since 1886 has comprised non-liquor licensing matters only.Successive Justices' Acts, and more recently Magistrates' Court Acts, have required the clerk or registrar of each 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 known as a Cause List Book.Initially, most clerks maintained a single register for all or most of the Court's business. This series comprises a Court Register which includes a mixture of cases from the various jurisdictions. Subsequently Clerks of Court were instructed to create separate registers for certain types of cases. Some Courts also began to maintain additional registers for different types of cases. Typically, separate registers have been established for the following cases:Adoption of Children RegisterUsed for: Adoption of children (1928 to 1958)Civil/Summons RegisterUsed for: Cases brought to court by summonsCommonwealth RegisterUsed for: Commonwealth jurisdiction (from 1915)Family Law RegisterUsed for: Commonwealth family law jurisdiction (from 1975)Licence RegisterUsed for: Liquor (pre 1886) and non-liquor licence applicationsMaintenance RegisterUsed for: Maintenance cases (1928 to 1975)Police/Arrest RegisterUsed for: Cases brought to court by police arrestQuasi RegisterUsed for: Criminal cases brought by summonsSpecial Complaints RegisterUsed for: Civil cases where Court determines redress (1928 to 1979)Where courts have subdivided the registration of cases, each Register has been allocated a different Victorian Public Record Series (VPRS) number and the type of register has been included in the series title.Court Registers 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.

自1971年起正式更名为治安法院（Magistrates' Courts）的小额诉讼法院（Courts of Petty Sessions），曾处理过范围极广的各类"轻微"司法事务。其审理的案件类型随时间推移不断丰富与拓展，可划分为四大核心管辖范畴：刑事、民事、许可类及家事法律事务。除大量专门裁判庭外，小额诉讼法院/治安法院是民事与刑事事务中最低层级的司法救济渠道。郡法院（County Court）、最高法院及各类英联邦法院（Commonwealth courts）则负责审理并裁决更为严重的刑事案件与标的额更大的民事纠纷。自1886年起，其许可类管辖范畴仅涵盖非酒类许可相关事务。

历代《治安法官法》及晚近出台的《治安法院法》均要求各法院的书记员或登记官编制并留存所有定罪裁决、法院命令及其他诉讼程序的登记档案。此类登记档案为法院的权威官方记录，约1888年之前，该类记录被称为"案件目录簿（Cause List Book）"。早期，多数书记员会为法院全部或绝大多数司法事务编制统一登记档案。本系列档案即为法院登记档案，其中混杂了来自各类管辖范畴的案件。后续法院书记员被要求针对特定类型的案件单独编制登记档案，部分法院亦开始为不同类型的案件增设专属登记档案。

通常而言，以下类型的案件均设有专属登记档案：
1. 儿童收养登记册（Adoption of Children Register）：适用范围为1928年至1958年的儿童收养事务
2. 民事/传票登记册：适用范围为以传票形式提请法院审理的案件
3. 英联邦管辖登记册（Commonwealth Register）：适用范围为1915年起的英联邦管辖案件
4. 家事法律登记册：适用范围为1975年起的英联邦家事管辖案件
5. 许可登记册：适用范围为1886年之前的酒类许可及后续的非酒类许可申请事务
6. 赡养费登记册：适用范围为1928年至1975年的赡养费纠纷案件
7. 警方/逮捕登记册：适用范围为由警方逮捕后提请法院审理的案件
8. 准用登记册（Quasi Register）：适用范围为以传票形式提起的刑事案件
9. 特殊申诉登记册：适用范围为1928年至1979年由法院裁决司法救济的民事案件

若法院对案件登记进行了细分，则每一类登记档案都会被赋予唯一的维多利亚州公共档案系列（Victorian Public Record Series, VPRS）编号，且登记档案类型会被纳入系列标题中。

法院登记档案通常采用统一格式，记录的详细信息包括：案件编号、检察官或举报人（刑事案件中）、原告（民事案件中）或许可事务申请人的姓名，被告人或被告的姓名，案件提请法院的方式（逮捕、搜查令、传票等），产生的费用或诉讼成本，指控事由、诉讼缘由或程序详情，裁决结果或法院命令，以及备注信息。备注栏通常用于记录罚金及各项费用的缴纳情况。为确保登记条目真实有效，法院主审法官需于每日庭审结束后在登记册上签字确认。