VPRS 1936 Court of Petty Sessions/Magistrates' Court Register of Licence Applications

Up to 1886 registers of applications for liquor and non-liquor licences were created and maintained in local courts of petty sessions at which annual, quarterly and general sittings of justices of the peace, licensing benches or licensing magistrates occurred.Under the Licensing Act 1885 (40 Vic.,No.857) Victoria was divided into Licensing Districts and Licensing Courts were constituted for each Licensing District to hear and determine liquor licence applications. Licence Registers extant for the period 1886 to 1890 often document the transition of responsibility from the courts of petty sessions to the licensing courts. In most country areas the same volume continued to be used for liquor and non-liquor licence applications until circa 1890 when new stationery was introduced specifically for liquor licence applications. Between 1886 and 1890 the pages which record proceedings of the Licensing Court are annotated to show that they are a record of that authority.This series comprises a record of proceedings concerning licence applications. If the records document proceedings held prior to 1890, it is likely that they will include both liquor and non-liquor licence applications. If the records only document proceedings held after 1890 the applications should relate solely to non-liquor licences.Some common non-liquor licences included:- Auctioneers- Carriers- Hawkers- Stage Coach operators- Slaughterers- Real Estate Agents- Collectors.

截至1886年，各地小额治安法庭（local courts of petty sessions）共创建并留存了最多1886份酒类与非酒类执照申请登记册。此类法庭会定期举办年度、季度及常规庭审，由太平绅士、执照评审委员会（licensing benches）或执照裁判法官（licensing magistrates）主持。
根据1885年《执照法》（Licensing Act 1885，40 Vic., No.857），维多利亚州被划分为多个执照管辖区（Licensing Districts），并为每个管辖区设立专属执照法庭（Licensing Courts），负责审理与裁决酒类执照申请。
1886年至1890年留存的执照登记册，往往记录了执照审批权责从小额治安法庭向专属执照法庭的过渡历程。在绝大多数乡村地区，同一卷宗会同时用于酒类与非酒类执照申请的登记，直至1890年左右，专门针对酒类执照申请的制式登记表单（stationery）才得以启用。
1886年至1890年间，记录执照法庭庭审流程的页面均附有批注，明确其为该司法管辖权的正式档案。
本档案系列收录的均为与执照申请相关的庭审记录。若相关记录涵盖1890年之前的庭审流程，则大概率同时包含酒类与非酒类执照申请的相关内容；若仅收录1890年之后的庭审记录，则其涉及的申请仅会是非酒类执照。
常见的非酒类执照类别包括：
- 拍卖商执照
- 承运人执照
- 沿街小贩执照
- 驿站马车运营商执照
- 屠宰场经营者执照
- 房地产经纪人执照
- 规费征收员执照