VPRS 16170 Criminal Trial Briefs, Sub-set of VPRS 30 Criminal Trial Briefs and VPRS 14414 Prosecution and Litigation Records

Full description

This series comprises the documentation created in the course of the prosecution of individuals committed for trial on indictable and capital offences. The contents of this series was gathered, created and maintained by the recording agencies which were responsible for preparing and prosecuting such cases on behalf of the Crown.

In the past records such as these were titled Criminal Trial Briefs although the brief itself was part of a much larger accumulation.

This accumulation commenced when an individual had been committed and the papers used by the Crown in the committal hearing had been received from the committing court. Papers generated during the subsequent trial preparation and prosecution process were added so that by the end of the prosecution, the documentation for each case may have consisted of a number of items.

Documentation for a completed case typically contained the following elements:

Original depositions (including exhibits). These are the papers sent from the committing court, forming the basis of the prosecution. They include the depositions (or statements) of various witnesses and associated documents such as witness recognisances, bail documentation and subpoenas. These were usually bound together in some way and a cover sheet containing summary information about the prosecution was usually attached. Researchers should note that exhibits which are private or police property are returned to their owners at the conclusion of the trial.