VPRS 303 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.System of Arrangement and ControlEach case was allocated a consecutive number in chronological order by the date the case came before the court. 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. In the twentieth century an annual numbering system was used, in which case numbers reverted to 1 at the beginning of each year. The case number was annotated onto all documents, known as process, lodged with the court during the case.In the 1970's and 1980's many courts ceased to use bound volumes for the 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 and 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 register is simply bundles of papers. Documents additional to the register were placed together to create a case file. In most instances these files were destroyed about fifteen years after the completion of the case to which they related.Electronic Registration of Court Cases from 1988The Courts Management Division of the Attorney-General's Department introduced a computerised case management system known as "Courtlink" into all courts between 1988 and 1993. Courtlink uses one system of case numbering for all Victorian Magistrates' Court cases. Courtlink has replaced the former manual registers. It records the same type of information previously recorded in those registers, with the addition of information needed to manage caseflow and enforcement.

治安裁判法庭（Courts of Petty Sessions）自1971年起更名为治安法院（Magistrates' Courts），负责处理范围极广的各类"小额"司法事务。其审理的案件类型随时间推移不断拓展更新，涵盖四大核心司法管辖范畴：刑事、民事、许可及家事法事务。除大量裁判庭外，治安裁判法庭/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、最高法院及各类联邦法院负责审理更为严重的刑事案件与标的额更大的民事纠纷。1886年起，许可管辖权限仅涵盖非酒类许可相关事务。

经多部《治安法官法》及后续的《治安法院法》规定，各法院的书记员或登记官须制作并留存所有定罪裁决、法院裁定及其他诉讼程序的登记册，该登记册为法院的权威档案记录。1888年以前，此类记录被称为"案由簿（Cause List Book）"。

早期多数书记员会为法院全部或绝大多数业务制作单一登记册，本系列即为此类综合法院登记册，包含来自各类司法管辖范畴的混合案件。此后，法院书记员被要求为特定类型案件单独设立登记册，部分法院亦开始为不同类型案件增设专项登记册。通常而言，下列类型案件已建立单独登记册：
1. 儿童收养登记册（Adoption of Children Register）：用于1928年至1958年的儿童收养事务
2. 民事/传票登记册（Civil/Summons Register）：用于以传票形式提起的法院诉讼
3. 联邦管辖登记册（Commonwealth Register）：用于1915年起的联邦司法管辖事务
4. 家事法登记册（Family Law Register）：用于1975年起的联邦家事法管辖事务
5. 许可登记册（Licence Register）：用于酒类（1886年前）及非酒类许可申请事务
6. 赡养费登记册（Maintenance Register）：用于1928年至1975年的赡养费纠纷案件
7. 警方/逮捕登记册（Police/Arrest Register）：用于警方以逮捕形式提起的法院诉讼
8. 准诉讼登记册（Quasi Register）：用于以传票形式提起的刑事案件
9. 特殊申诉登记册（Special Complaints Register）：用于1928年至1979年法院裁定司法救济的民事案件

当法院对案件登记进行细分时，每类登记册均会被分配专属的维多利亚州公共记录系列（Victorian Public Record Series, VPRS）编号，且登记册类型会被纳入系列标题中。

法院登记册通常采用统一格式，记载内容包括案件编号、公诉人/告发人（刑事案件中）、原告（民事案件中）或许可申请人的姓名、被告人/被告的姓名、案件进入法院的方式（逮捕、令状、传票等）、产生的费用或诉讼成本、指控事由/诉讼缘由的说明、裁判结果或裁定，以及备注信息。备注栏常被用于记录罚金与费用的缴纳情况。为确保登记条目真实有效，法院主审法官须在每日庭审结束后签署登记册。

## 案件编排与管理体系
所有案件均按案件提交法院的日期以时间顺序分配连续编号。19世纪时，多数法院采用每日重置编号的规则，即案件编号每日从1开始，因此案件需通过审理日期与当日编号进行标识。20世纪则改用年度编号规则，案件编号于每年年初重置为1。案件编号会标注在诉讼过程中提交给法院的所有相关文件，即诉讼文书（process）上。

20世纪70至80年代，多数法院不再使用装订成册的登记册，转而采用在法院签发的、用以启动诉讼程序的传票或令状上记录裁判结果的做法。主审治安法官会在该文件上批注其裁判结果，随后将其与其他启动诉讼的文件按案件编号顺序归档，形成登记册。部分法院后续将此类文件收纳于硬质纤维板文件夹或活页夹中，而其他法院的登记册则仅为文件捆扎件。除登记册外的额外文件会被汇总为案件卷宗。在大多数情况下，此类卷宗会在相关案件审结约15年后被销毁。

## 1988年起的法院案件电子登记系统
总检察长办公室法院管理处于1988年至1993年间，为所有法院引入了名为"Courtlink"的计算机化案件管理系统。该系统为维多利亚州所有治安法院案件采用统一的案件编号规则，取代了此前的手工登记册。Courtlink系统除记录此前手工登记册中的所有信息外，还新增了案件流程管理与执行所需的相关信息。