VPRS 2491 Court of Petty Sessions/Magistrates' Court 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）正式确立了治安裁判法庭（Courts of Petty Sessions）的特别管辖权。自此，该法庭/治安法院（Magistrates Courts）内设有两种处理民事申诉的救济机制。
“普通管辖权”允许法庭就可依据客观标准确定索赔精确金额的损害赔偿或债务纠纷作出裁决，例如追讨已交付货物的欠款。以普通民事管辖权提起的诉讼通常采用缺席判决制度，该制度规定，若被告未就传票提交答辩意向通知，则法庭可不经正式开庭审理，直接作出有利于原告的判决。
在“特别管辖权”项下，法庭可自行确定合理的救济金额，且受更高的管辖限额约束。机动车交通事故引发的损害赔偿索赔通常由特别管辖权程序处理，此类程序由领薪治安法官（stipendiary magistrate）主持，而非非专业治安法官（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别申诉的区分，确立了统一的民事管辖权。当时需单独设立登记簿以记录特别申诉案件，特别申诉登记簿通常采用统一格式，需载明案件编号、原告姓名、被告姓名、案件移送法院的方式（传票类型及日期）、案由或诉讼程序说明、裁决或命令内容及备注信息。为验证登记簿中登记内容的真实性，主持庭审的领薪治安法官需每日终了时在登记簿上签字。