VPRS 6215 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年起更名为治安法院（Magistrates' Courts），其曾处理数量极为庞大的各类“轻微”司法事务。该法院审理的案件类型随时间推移不断演变并扩充，涵盖四大核心司法管辖范畴：刑事、民事、许可类及家事法律事务。除大量专门裁判所外，小额诉讼法院/治安法院是民事与刑事事务中层级最低的司法救济途径。郡法院（County Court）、最高法院（Supreme Court）及各类英联邦法院（Commonwealth Courts）则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，其许可类司法管辖权仅涵盖非酒类许可相关事务。

历经多届《治安法官法案》（Justices' Acts）以及近年出台的《治安法院法案》（Magistrates' Court Acts），均要求各法院的书记员或登记官制作并留存所有定罪裁决、法院命令及其他司法程序的登记台账。此类登记台账为法院的权威官方记录。在1888年前后，该类记录曾被称为案由登记簿（Cause List Book）。

最初，多数书记员会为法院全部或绝大多数司法事务设立单一登记台账。本系列档案即为法院登记台账，其中混杂了来自不同司法管辖范畴的案件。此后，法院书记员被要求为特定类型的案件设立独立登记台账，部分法院还开始为不同类型的案件增设额外登记档案。通常情况下，法院会为以下类型的案件设立独立登记台账：
- 收养子女案件：收养子女相关事务（1928年至1958年）
- 民事/传唤案件：以传票形式提请法院审理的案件
- 英联邦管辖案件：英联邦司法管辖范畴内的案件（1915年起）
- 家事法律案件：英联邦家事司法管辖范畴内的案件（1975年起）
- 许可类案件：酒类许可（1886年前）及非酒类许可申请
- 扶养案件：扶养纠纷案件（1928年至1975年）
- 警方逮捕案件：由警方逮捕后提请法院审理的案件
- 准刑事案件：以传票形式提起的准刑事诉讼
- 特别申诉案件：由法院裁定司法救济方式的民事案件（1928年至1979年）

若法院对案件登记进行了细分，则每个登记台账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，且登记台账的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、刑事诉讼中的公诉人或举报人姓名、民事诉讼中的原告姓名、许可类案件中的申请人姓名、被告人或被告姓名、案件提请法院的方式（逮捕、搜查令、传票等）、产生的诉讼费用、指控事由、诉讼缘由或诉讼程序的说明、裁决结果或法院命令，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。为验证登记条目真实性，法院主审法官需于每日庭审结束后在登记台账上签字。