VPRS 10753 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.

简易裁判法院（Courts of Petty Sessions）自1971年起更名为治安法院（Magistrates' Courts），曾处理范围极广的各类"轻微"司法事务。其审理的案件类型随时间推移不断拓展更新，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，简易裁判法院/治安法院是民事与刑事事务中层级最低的救济渠道。郡法院、最高法院及各类联邦法院则负责审理更为重大的刑事案件与标的额更大的民事纠纷。自1886年起，其许可管辖范畴仅涵盖非酒类许可相关事务。

历经多次修订的《治安法官法》（Justices' Acts）及近期的《治安法院法》（Magistrates' Court Acts）均要求各法院的书记员或登记官制作并留存本院所有定罪裁决、命令及其他司法程序的登记台账。此类登记台账是法院的权威官方记录。在1888年前后，此类记录被称为案件目录簿（Cause List Book）。

最初，多数书记员仅设立单一登记台账来记录本院全部或大部分司法事务。本系列档案即属于法院登记台账范畴，涵盖来自各类管辖范畴的混合案件。此后，法院书记员被要求针对特定类型的案件设立独立登记台账，部分法院还新增了针对不同案件类型的专项登记档案。通常而言，以下类型的案件均设有专属登记台账：
- 儿童收养登记册（Adoption of Children Register）：用途为1928年至1958年的儿童收养相关事务
- 民事/传票登记册（Civil/Summons Register）：用途为以传票形式提起的法庭诉讼案件
- 联邦管辖登记册（Commonwealth Register）：用途为1915年起的联邦管辖范畴案件
- 家事法律登记册（Family Law Register）：用途为1975年起的联邦家事法律管辖事务
- 许可登记册（Licence Register）：用途为酒类许可（1886年之前）及非酒类许可申请事务
- 扶养费登记册（Maintenance Register）：用途为1928年至1975年的扶养费纠纷案件
- 警方/逮捕登记册（Police/Arrest Register）：用途为以警方逮捕方式提起的法庭诉讼案件
- 准类案件登记册（Quasi Register）：用途为以传票形式提起的刑事案件
- 特殊申诉登记册（Special Complaints Register）：用途为1928年至1979年由法院裁定救济措施的民事案件

若法院对案件登记进行了细分，则每一类登记台账都会被赋予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标题中。

法院登记台账通常采用统一格式，记录的信息包括：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（许可类事务中）的姓名、被告人或被申请人姓名、案件进入法院的方式（逮捕、搜查令、传票等）、产生的费用或诉讼成本、指控事由、诉讼缘由或程序详情、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。为确保登记台账中条目真实有效，法院主审法官需在每日庭审结束后对登记台账进行签字确认。