VPRS 8557 Court of Petty Sessions Register

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 licences 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 1928 until 1958 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 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.In addition, from about 1915 onwards courts maintained a separate register for matters under Commonwealth legislation, and when the Children's Court was established in 1906, matters relating to children ceased to be recorded in the main sequences of registers and were entered in Children's Court Registers.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.

治安法院（Courts of Petty Sessions），或1971年起改称的裁判法院（Magistrates' Courts），审理范围覆盖极广的“轻微”法庭案件。除大量专门审裁处外，二者是民事及刑事案件的最低层级救济途径，更严重的刑事案件与较大规模民事纠纷则由郡法院（County Court）、最高法院（Supreme Court）及各类联邦法院（Commonwealth courts）审理裁决。

治安法院/裁判法院的管辖权历经变迁，整体上随时间推移有所扩张，通常涵盖以下几类案件：
刑事管辖权方面，涵盖《简易程序罪行法》下的全部罪行，包括交通违法、轻微袭击、毒品罪行、猥亵言语、擅闯行为。部分被称为可公诉罪行（indictable offences）的较严重罪行，可在治安法院/裁判法院或上级法院审理，此类罪行包括特定价值以下的盗窃、入室盗窃、猥亵袭击、违反卖淫管制法的罪行、故意损毁财物、职业健康与安全罪行。此外，治安法院/裁判法院还需开展还押程序（committal proceedings），以裁定涉及较严重罪行的案件是否应移交上级法院审理。

民事管辖权涵盖合同纠纷产生的债权请求、过失等违反义务行为引发的损失赔偿请求、机动车事故或袭击导致的损害赔偿请求，以及应缴税款请求。

许可管辖权在20世纪有所缩减。历史上不同时期，其许可核发范围包括黄金收购商、拍卖师、承运人、典当商、房地产经纪、商业代理人及副代理人、调查代理人、小贩及流动摊贩的牌照。至1991年，裁判法院仅核发商业代理人及副代理人、小贩及流动摊贩的牌照。

家庭法管辖权涵盖子女抚养费评估、赡养费、监护权、看护权、探视权、姓名变更、未成年人结婚、事实婚姻伴侣的财产权益，以及1987年起新增的家庭暴力干预令（family violence intervention orders）。1928年至1958年间，治安法院还负责办理收养登记。

法庭登记簿（Court Registers）
历任《法官法》及近年颁布的《裁判法院法》均要求法院书记员或司法常务官制作并留存所有定罪裁决、法庭命令及其他诉讼程序的登记簿。此类登记簿为法院的权威档案记录。
1888年前后，此类记录通常被称为案件清单簿（Cause List Book），格式略有不同；1888年之后，统一使用“登记簿”这一术语。
最初，多数书记员会为法院全部或大部分诉讼业务维护一套连贯的登记簿序列。但20世纪以来，部分法院会根据审理的案件类型分别维护多套登记簿序列。通常刑事案件与民事案件分开登记，交通违法案件、许可申请及各类民事案件亦分别单独登记。部分受理大量刑事案件的法院，会针对传票传唤案件与逮捕移送案件分别设立登记簿，部分法院还会为每个法庭单独设立登记册。
此外，约1915年起，法院会为联邦立法管辖的案件单独设立登记簿；1906年少年法院（Children's Court）设立后，涉未成年人案件不再记入主登记簿序列，而是录入少年法院登记簿（Children's Court Registers）。
若法院将案件登记划分为多个序列，每个序列均会被分配专属的维多利亚州公共档案系列编号，登记簿的具体类型也会纳入系列标题中。本法院的系列清单列明了所使用的其他类型登记簿。

登记簿内容
登记簿通常采用统一格式，载明案件编号、检察官或告发人（刑事案件中）、原告（民事案件中）或申请人（许可案件中）姓名、被告人或被告姓名、案件进入法院的方式（逮捕、搜查令、传票等）、产生的费用或法庭成本、指控事由、诉讼缘由或程序事项、裁决或命令，以及备注栏。备注栏通常用于记录罚金及费用的缴纳情况。
为验证登记簿中登记内容的真实性，法院主审法官需在每日庭审结束后签署登记簿。