VPRS 793 Reports

From 1841 to 1852 all Victorian Supreme Court cases were handled by the New South Wales Supreme Court, Port Phillip District under the Imperial Act 5 Vict No 9. It provided that the resident judge of the Port Phillip District should have exclusive jurisdiction to deal with civil and criminal cases. The Supreme Court had the same jurisdiction as that of the Lord High Chancellor in Equity. With the creation of the Supreme Court of Victoria (Act 15 Vict No 10) in 1852 the Master in Equity became a recognised officer in the Court in Victoria. In 1883, by the Supreme Court (Judicature) Act, the English legislation providing for the concurrent jurisdiction of law and equity came to apply in Victoria where previously the court was notionally divided into a court of law and a court of equity. The 1883 Act was later repealed, and was re-enacted with considerable procedural amendments by the Supreme Court Act 1890.This series consists of Reports prepared for the Court by the Master in Equity. Court Orders could demand that the Master prepare a Report on certain matters relevant to the case before the Court and to place before the Court to assist in determining the matter. In other matters, the Court could order the Master to take certain actions in relation to the matter before the Court and report to the Court. Actual case files may be found in VPRS 259 Equity Case Files.According to the Supreme Court Rules of 1854, chapter VI Equity Practice, Reports shall concisely state the Masters conclusions without setting forth the evidence or his reasons, and opposite each paragraph shall be a reference to the documents or folio in the evidence upon the conclusions are based, and every Report shall be annexed by the Master to the Decree Decretal, or other order directing the reference or enquiry.From 1852 until 1862 the Reports were transcribed in to the volumes. A copy of the Report was also placed in the Equity Case File. The folio number of the Report in VPRS 793 was written on the copy in the Equity Case File and the date of the Report was noted in the Equity Suit Book VPRS 1697.From 1861 the practice of transcribing the Report into the volumes ceased. Instead the original Reports were bound together into volumes rather than being placed in the Equity Case File. The Reports were folded originally and were later unfolded and bound, probably by the Masters Office to assist reference. The cases folio number in the Equity Suit Book (VPRS 1697) is written on the Report. The Equity Case File Number is not usually written on the Report. The previous system of transcribing Reports in to the Books did not provide these cross references.Up until c.1870 the Reports also have a document number written on them. This document number also appears on the documents which make up the Equity Case Files see VPRS 259. The register that allocated the document number is not in PROV custody as at August 2001 and its location is unknown.A Note about Previous/ Subsequent SeriesAlthough this series covers the period 1852 1884 (including 1864), some Reports from 1864 were bound into a volume with Orders and Decrees also created in 1864, see VPRS 12799 Orders, Decrees and Reports. It is not known why this was done, possibly the Reports in VPRS 12799 were missed when the majority of the Reports were bound into the volumes of VPRS 793, and for expediency the Reports were bound with Orders and Decrees that also had been missed.

1841年至1852年间，所有维多利亚州最高法院（Victorian Supreme Court）的案件均由根据《5 Vict第9号帝国法令》（Imperial Act 5 Vict No 9）设立的新南威尔士州最高法院（New South Wales Supreme Court）菲利普港区（Port Phillip District）分院审理。该法令规定，菲利普港区的常驻法官享有审理民事及刑事案件的专属管辖权。该法院的管辖权与衡平法领域的大法官（Lord High Chancellor）管辖权一致。1852年，随着《15 Vict第10号法令》（Act 15 Vict No 10）设立维多利亚州最高法院，衡平法主事官（Master in Equity）成为该法院内的正式公职人员。

1883年，通过《最高法院（司法）法令》（Supreme Court (Judicature) Act），英国有关普通法与衡平法并行管辖权的立法开始适用于维多利亚州——此前该州法院在概念上分为普通法院与衡平法院。1883年法令后被废止，并由1890年《最高法院法令》（Supreme Court Act 1890）在大幅修订程序规则后重新颁布。

本数据集系列包含衡平法主事官为法院编制的报告。法院可通过判令要求主事官就案件相关事项编制报告并提交法院，以协助案件审理；在其他事项中，法院亦可指令主事官就待审事项采取相关行动并向法院提交报告。相关案件卷宗可于VPRS 259号衡平法案件卷宗中查阅。

根据1854年《最高法院规则》第六章“衡平诉讼程序”（Supreme Court Rules of 1854, chapter VI Equity Practice），报告须简明陈述主事官的结论，不得列明证据或主事官的推理过程；每份段落均须标注结论所依据的证据文件或页码编号；每份报告均须由主事官附于终局判令（Decree Decretal）或其他指定调查/委托审理的判令之后。

1852年至1862年间，报告被誊写至卷宗中，同时副本亦存入衡平法案件卷宗。衡平法案件卷宗中的副本会标注VPRS 793号报告的页码，且报告日期会记录于VPRS 1697号衡平法诉讼登记册中。

1861年起，将报告誊写至卷宗的惯例终止，改为将原始报告装订成册，而非存入衡平法案件卷宗。报告最初为折叠状态，后由主事官办公室展开并装订，以方便查阅。衡平法诉讼登记册（VPRS 1697）中的案件页码会标注于报告之上，但衡平法案件卷宗编号通常不会标注于报告上。此前将报告誊写至登记册的制度并未设置此类交叉引用。

直至约1870年，报告上还会标注文件编号，该编号亦会出现在构成衡平法案件卷宗的相关文件中（参见VPRS 259）。负责分配该文件编号的登记册截至2001年8月并未由维多利亚州档案馆（Public Record Office Victoria，简称PROV）保管，其现存位置不明。

关于本系列的前后续档案说明：尽管本系列涵盖1852年至1884年的时段（含1864年），但部分1864年的报告被与1864年产生的判令一并装订入卷，参见VPRS 12799号“判令、裁定与报告”系列。目前尚不明确如此操作的原因，可能是由于VPRS 12799中的报告在大多数报告被装订入VPRS 793号卷宗时被遗漏，因此为简便起见，将该部分遗漏的报告与同样被遗漏的判令一并装订。