VPRS 5929 Court Of Mines Journal

Full description

This series was created to record information about the issue of fines and other certificates issued in cases heard before local Courts of Mines.

The requirement to create this record was originally provided by Section 66 of the Gold Fields Act 1857. Under this section the Clerk of Courts was required to create two volumes pertaining to cases brought before it. One was the Court of Mines Register which was to function as a minute of all [com]plaints, decrees and orders of the Court and the execution of any orders made. The Court of Mines Journal was to document information about fines and all certificates filed in the course of the case.

Each case recorded in the journal was given the same case number as that for the com[plaint] recorded in the Register. Information recorded included the [com]plaint number, the date and time of the sitting of the Court, name of the deputy Judge, if he heard the matter, and the various documents which were issued or filed. Each of these documents that could be issued or filed is identified in separate columns within the folio and the [com]plaint number is recorded in the relevant columns if the document was so issued or filed . The names of both parties to an action is generally not recorded as this information was to be found in the Register.

The requirement for the creation of the Journal was removed by the Mining Statute 1865 with the information contained within it effectively being incorporated into the Register. It appears that some Clerks continued to use the Journal beyond this date.

This series was transferred to PROV by the University of Melbourne Archives which had originally received it as part of the E. J Semmens Collection.