VPRS 11627 General Sessions/County Court Criminal Record Book, Sale

Full description

The Court of General Sessions exercised a purely criminal jurisdiction within the County Court. This record was created to record cases heard in the Court of General Sessions at a particular and after 1968, the criminal jurisdiction of the County Court on circuit at a particular location.

In 1968 local County Courts and the Court of General Sessions were abolished and one County Court for the whole of Victoria was established. Therefore all cases after 1968 are criminal cases of the County Court sitting on circuit at a particular location.

The County Court heard cases of a more series nature than the Magistrates' Court. Cases heard include robbery, common assault and driving under the influence.

Details recorded include: the number of the case for each session, name of the accused, offence they were charged with, the plea, verdict, listing of the verdict, the sentence (if found guilty), date of the sentence, the Jury (if required the individual members names were listed), the adjudicating magistrate and remarks in which any additional matters were recorded. The name of the Judge who presided over each session was listed at the top of the page. The title Court of General Sessions is crossed out for all cases after the Court of General Sessions was abolished and replaced with County Court at Sale.