VPRS 11629 Supreme Court Civil Action/Cause Book, Sale

This series was created to record all civil actions initiated in the Supreme Court of Victoria on circuit at Sale. A civil action was initiated when a plaintiff filed a summons at the Prothonotory's Office. The summons set out a complaint against another party, the defendant. It sets out the nature of the plaintiff's complaint and also a provision that if the complaint is met by a specified date, the action would cease.The defendant then has three alternatives. He can either(a) meet the complaint on the summons and thus end the proceedings,(b) do nothing, in which case a default judgement (and costs) would be awarded by the court in the plaintiff's favour; or(c) contest the action through the lodging of a document known as an appearance. Only if this latter alternative is followed does an action become a civil trial.Details regarding each action is spread over 2 folios (4 pages) in these books. The first two pages identifies the parties involved and detail the nature of the action. Information contained on these pages includes: the number of the action, the names of the plaintiff, defendant (s) and their solicitors, the date of filing of the summons, the entering of the appearance, a description of the complaint, damages sought and, if applicable, details on the issuing of writs of copias ad satisfaciendum (ca.sa) or fieri facias (fi.fa.). A fi.fa directs the sheriff of the Supreme Court to seize assets belonging to the defendant with a view to auctioning them to satisfy the complaint on the summons whilst, a ca.sa. also sees the defendant arrested. An attempt by the plaintiff to have one of those writs issued with the summons is usually an indication that the defendant is a declared insolvent.The second folio (the last two pages of the 4) was used to document details of contested actions or default cases. Blank entries on these pages usually indicate that the defendant met the complaint on the summons. Details on these pages includes: date of the close of the pleadings (the pre trial phase in which the facts of trial are described by the parties), date of delivery of the trial papers, whether an action is for trial or assessment of damages (default cases become an assessment for damages, such cases being indicated by the word default in this column), whether trial by judge alone or by jury, trial date, verdict, costs, details of final judgement, details of issue of fi.fa or ca.sa with the judgement and remarks. The remarks column usually notes details of any subsequent court action, the issue of any nisi rules and filing of sundry information. By the 1980s information about each case was recorded on a single page.

本数据集系列旨在记录维多利亚州最高法院在塞尔巡回审判中提起的全部民事诉讼。当原告向首席书记官办公室（Prothonotory's Office）提交传票时，即视为民事诉讼正式启动。该传票需载明针对另一方当事人（即被告）的诉讼请求，明确原告主张的诉求性质，并附带一项条款：若被告在指定日期前满足原告诉求，则该诉讼将终止。

被告在此情形下享有三种选择：(a) 针对传票中的诉求作出回应，从而终结诉讼程序；(b) 不作任何回应，此时法院将作出有利于原告的缺席判决（含诉讼费用）；或(c) 通过提交一份名为“出庭声明”的文件对诉讼进行抗辩。仅当被告选择后者时，该诉讼才会进入民事审判环节。

每起诉讼的详细信息分布于2个对开页（共4页）中。前两页用于列明涉案当事人并详述诉讼性质，所载信息包括：诉讼案号、原告与被告的姓名及其代理律师的信息、传票提交日期、出庭声明登记日期、诉讼请求说明、主张的损害赔偿金额，以及（如适用）财产交付执行令（copias ad satisfaciendum，简称ca.sa）或财产扣押令（fieri facias，简称fi.fa.）的签发详情。

财产扣押令（fi.fa.）指令维多利亚州最高法院郡治安官扣押被告名下资产，通过拍卖所得清偿传票所载的诉求；而财产交付执行令（ca.sa.）则会导致被告被逮捕。若原告在提交传票时同时申请签发上述任一令状，通常意味着被告已被宣告破产。

第二组对开页（即4页中的后两页）用于记录抗辩诉讼或缺席案件的详细信息。该页面的空白条目通常代表被告已针对传票中的诉求作出回应，诉讼就此终结。此页所载信息包括：诉答程序（即双方阐明审判事实的审前阶段）的结案日期、审判文件提交日期、诉讼是否属于审判或损害赔偿评估范畴（缺席案件将转为损害赔偿评估，此类案件在本栏中以"default"字样标注）、审判方式为独任法官审判还是陪审团审判、审判日期、判决结果、诉讼费用、最终判决详情、依据判决签发的fi.fa.或ca.sa.的相关信息，以及备注栏内容。备注栏通常会记录后续诉讼的相关细节、暂准命令（nisi rules）的签发情况，以及各类杂项资料的提交情况。

到20世纪80年代，每起案件的相关信息仅需记录在单页纸中。