VPRS 11039 Court of Petty Sessions Special Complaints Register

The special jurisdiction of Courts of Petty Sessions was formally established by the Justices' Act 1928. From this time there were two mechanisms within Courts of Petty Sessions/Magistrates' Courts for the redress of civil complaints.The "ordinary jurisdiction empowered the court to determine cases for damages or debts where the precise amount of the claim could be determined according to some objective scale. An example would be the recovery of a debt for goods delivered. Claims brought to court in the ordinary civil jurisdiction often used the system of judgement by default. This system provided that where a respondent did not respond to a summons by giving notice of his or her intention to defend the claim, a judgement could be made in favour of the complainant without a formal court hearing.In its "special jurisdiction the court itself determined the appropriate amount of redress and operated within a higher jurisdictional limit. Claims for damages arising out of a motor vehicle accident were typically handled in the special jurisdiction. In the special jurisdiction a stipendiary magistrate would preside rather than justices of the peace.The Magistrates' Courts (Civil Jurisdiction) Act 1979 abolished the distinction between ordinary and special complaints and established a single civil jurisdiction.A separate register was required to be kept for recording special complaints. Special Complaints Registers are generally in a common format, giving details of the case number, the name of the complainant, the name of the respondent, how the case came to the court (type and date of summons), a description of the cause or proceeding, the decision or order and any remarks. In order to authenticate entries made in the register the presiding stipendiary magistrate signed it at the end of each day.

1928年《治安法官法》（Justices' Act 1928）正式确立了即决裁判法庭（Courts of Petty Sessions）的特殊管辖权。自此，即决裁判法庭/治安法院（Magistrates' Courts）内设有两种民事申诉救济机制。普通管辖权赋予法庭在索赔金额可依据某一客观标准确定的前提下，审理损害赔偿或债务纠纷案件的权限，例如追讨已交付货物的欠款。普通民事管辖权下的诉讼通常采用缺席判决制度：若被告未提交答辩意向通知以回应传票，法庭可不经正式庭审直接作出有利于原告的判决。在特殊管辖权模式下，由法庭自行确定适当的救济金额，且受更高的管辖权限额约束。机动车事故引发的损害赔偿索赔通常由特殊管辖权程序处理，该模式下由领薪治安法官（stipendiary magistrate）主持庭审，而非治安法官（justices of the peace）。1979年《治安法院（民事管辖权）法》（Magistrates' Courts (Civil Jurisdiction) Act 1979）废除了普通申诉与特殊申诉的区分，确立了统一的民事管辖权。需单独设立登记簿以记录特殊申诉案件，特殊申诉登记簿通常采用统一格式，记载内容包括案件编号、原告姓名、被告姓名、案件进入法庭的方式（传票类型与日期）、案由或诉讼程序说明、裁决或命令以及备注信息。为确保登记簿条目真实有效，主持庭审的领薪治安法官需在每日结束时签字认证。