VPRS 5533 Court of Petty Sessions Register

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:Register Used ForAdoption of Children Adoption of children (1928 to 1958)Civil/Summons Cases brought to court by summonsCommonwealth Commonwealth jurisdiction (from 1915)Family Law Commonwealth family law jurisdiction (from 1975)Licence Liquor (pre 1886) and non-liquor licence applicationsMaintenance Maintenance cases (1928 to 1975)Police/Arrest Cases brought to court by police arrestQuasi Criminal cases brought by summonsSpecial Complaints 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.

小额诉讼法院（Courts of Petty Sessions）自1971年起改称治安法院（Magistrates' Courts），曾处理数量极其庞大的各类“轻微”司法事务。其审理的案件类型随时间推移不断变化且范围逐步扩大，涵盖四大核心司法管辖领域：刑事、民事、许可类及家事法事务。除大量特别裁判庭外，小额诉讼法院/治安法院是民事与刑事案件中最低层级的司法救济渠道。县法院、最高法院及各类联邦法院负责审理并裁决更为严重的刑事案件与标的额更大的民事纠纷。自1886年起，其许可管辖范围仅包含非酒类许可相关事务。

历届《法官法》（Justices' Acts）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制作并留存所有定罪裁决、法庭命令及其他诉讼程序的登记档案。此类登记档案为法院的权威官方记录。在1888年前后，此类记录被称为“案由登记簿（Cause List Book）”。

最初，多数法院书记官会为本院全部或大部分司法业务维护一份统一的登记档案。本数据集系列涵盖的法院登记档案，混合了来自各类司法管辖领域的案件。此后，法院书记官被指示为特定类型的案件分别设立独立登记册，部分法院也开始为不同类型的案件增设专项登记档案。通常而言，以下类型的案件均已设立单独的登记档案：
1. 收养登记：儿童收养相关事务（1928年至1958年）
2. 民事/传票案件：以传票形式提交至法院的案件
3. 联邦管辖案件：联邦司法管辖范畴内的事务（自1915年起）
4. 家事法案件：联邦家事法管辖范畴内的事务（自1975年起）
5. 许可登记：酒类许可（1886年之前）及非酒类许可申请相关事务
6. 扶养案件：扶养纠纷相关事务（1928年至1975年）
7. 警方/逮捕案件：由警方逮捕后提交至法院的案件
8. 准刑事案：以传票形式提起的准刑事案件
9. 特别申诉案件：由法院裁决救济措施的民事案件（1928年至1979年）

若法院对案件登记进行了细分，则每一份登记档案都会被分配一个独特的维多利亚州公共记录系列（Victorian Public Record Series, VPRS）编号，且登记类型会被纳入该系列的标题之中。

法院登记档案通常采用统一格式，包含以下详细信息：案件编号、刑事程序中的检察官或告发人、民事程序中的原告、许可程序中的申请人姓名、被告人或被告姓名、案件进入法院的方式（逮捕、搜查令、传票等）、产生的费用或法庭成本、指控事由、诉讼缘由或程序详情、裁决结果或法庭命令，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，法院的主审法官需在每日庭审结束后签署该登记档案。