VPRS 6202 Court of Petty Sessions Registers

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.

轻罪法庭（Courts of Petty Sessions）自1971年起更名为治安法庭（Magistrates' Courts），历来处理范围极广的“轻微”法庭案件。其审理的案件类型随时间推移不断演变并扩充，涵盖四大核心管辖范畴：刑事、民事、许可类及家事法律事务。除大量专门裁判庭外，轻罪法庭/治安法庭是民事与刑事事项中最低层级的法律救济渠道。郡法院（County Court）、最高法院（Supreme Court）及各类联邦法院则负责审理更为重大的刑事案件与涉案金额更高的民事纠纷。

自1886年起，许可类管辖仅涵盖非酒类许可相关事务。历代《治安法官法》（Justices' Acts）及近期的《治安法庭法》（Magistrates' Court Acts）均要求各法庭的书记员或登记官制作并留存所有定罪裁决、命令及其他法庭程序的登记册。该登记册为法庭的权威官方记录。直至约1888年，此类记录被称为“案由登记簿（Cause List Book）”。

早期，多数书记员会为法庭全部或大部分业务维护单一登记册。本系列数据集包含涵盖各类管辖案件的法庭登记册，混合了不同类型的案件。随后，法庭书记员被要求为特定类型的案件单独设立登记册。部分法庭还开始为不同类型的案件增设额外登记册。通常而言，各法庭会为以下案件设立单独登记册：
- 儿童收养登记册（Adoption of Children Register）：用于儿童收养相关案件（1928年至1958年）
- 民事/传票登记册（Civil/Summons Register）：用于以传票形式提请法庭审理的案件
- 联邦管辖登记册（Commonwealth Register）：用于联邦管辖事项（1915年起）
- 家事法律登记册（Family Law Register）：用于联邦家事法律管辖事项（1975年起）
- 许可登记册（Licence Register）：用于酒类（1886年前）及非酒类许可申请事务
- 扶养登记册（Maintenance Register）：用于扶养纠纷案件（1928年至1975年）
- 警方/逮捕登记册（Police/Arrest Register）：用于由警方逮捕后提请法庭审理的案件
- 准用登记册（Quasi Register）：用于以传票形式提起的刑事案件
- 特别申诉登记册（Special Complaints Register）：用于法庭裁定救济的民事案件（1928年至1979年）

当法庭对案件登记进行细分时，每一类登记册都会被分配不同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。

法庭登记册通常采用统一格式，记录内容包括案件编号、检察官或告发人（刑事案件中）、原告（民事案件中）或申请人（许可类事项中）姓名、被告人或被告姓名、案件提请法庭的方式（逮捕、搜查令、传票等）、产生的费用或法庭成本、指控事由或诉讼程序描述、裁决或命令以及备注信息。备注栏通常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，法庭主审法官需在每日结束时签署登记册。