VPRS 6211 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.

治安法院（Courts of Petty Sessions）自1971年起正式更名为治安法院（Magistrates' Court），其受理范围极广，涵盖大量轻微司法事务。随着时间推移，该院审理的案件类型不断拓展更新，可大致归入四大类司法管辖范畴：刑事、民事、许可类及家庭法案件。除大量专门裁判庭外，治安法院是民事与刑事案件中最低层级的司法救济渠道。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严重的刑事案件与标的额更大的民事纠纷。1886年起，许可类司法管辖仅涵盖非酒类许可事务。

历任《治安法官法》（Justices' Acts）以及近年出台的《治安法院法》（Magistrates' Court Acts）均要求各法院的书记官或登记员编制并留存所有定罪裁决、司法命令及其他诉讼程序的登记档案。此类登记档案是法院的权威官方记录。约1888年以前，该类档案被称为“案由登记簿（Cause List Book）”。

早期，多数书记官会为法院全部或绝大多数业务维护一套统一的登记档案。本系列档案即属于此类通用法院登记档案，涵盖了来自各类司法管辖范畴的混合案件。后续，法院书记官被要求为特定类型的案件单独设立登记档案，部分法院还额外增设了针对不同案件类型的专项登记册。通常而言，以下几类案件已设立独立登记档案：
1. 儿童收养登记册（Adoption of Children Register）：用于1928年至1958年的儿童收养案件
2. 民事/传票登记册（Civil/Summons Register）：用于通过传票提请法院审理的案件
3. 联邦管辖登记册（Commonwealth Register）：用于1915年起的联邦司法管辖案件
4. 家庭法登记册（Family Law Register）：用于1975年起的联邦家庭法管辖案件
5. 许可登记册（Licence Register）：用于酒类（1886年前）及非酒类许可申请事务
6. 扶养费登记册（Maintenance Register）：用于1928年至1975年的扶养费纠纷案件
7. 警方/逮捕登记册（Police/Arrest Register）：用于由警方逮捕后提请法院审理的案件
8. 准司法登记册（Quasi Register）：用于由传票发起的刑事案件
9. 特别申诉登记册（Special Complaints Register）：用于1928年至1979年期间由法院裁定救济措施的民事案件

当法院对案件登记进行细分后，每一类登记档案都会被分配唯一的维多利亚州公共档案系列（Victorian Public Record Series, VPRS）编号，且登记类型会被纳入系列名称中。

法院登记档案通常采用统一格式，记载内容包括案件编号、公诉人或举报人（刑事案件中）、原告（民事案件中）或申请人（许可类案件中）姓名、被告人或被申请人姓名、案件提请法院的方式（逮捕、搜查令、传票等）、产生的费用或诉讼成本、指控事由或诉讼缘由、裁决或命令内容，以及备注信息。备注栏通常用于记录罚金与诉讼费用的缴纳情况。为确保登记条目真实有效，法院主审法官需在每日庭审结束后签署该登记档案。