VPRS 2489 Court of Petty Sessions/Magistrates' Court Civil (Summons) Registers

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The Jurisdiction of Courts of Petty Sessions and Magistrates' Courts

Courts of Petty Sessions, or Magistrates' Courts as they have been called since 1971, dealt with a very large range of "minor" court matters. Apart from a large number of tribunals, they provide the lowest level of redress in civil and criminal matters, with the County Court, the Supreme Court and various Commonwealth courts hearing and determining more serious criminal cases and larger civil disputes.

The jurisdiction of Courts of Petty Sessions / Magistrates' Courts has changed, and on the whole, increased over time, but has usually included the following types of cases:

The criminal jurisdiction includes all offences under Summary Offences legislation including traffic offences, minor assault and drug offences, obscene language, trespass. A number of more serious offences known as indictable offences may be tried in either the Petty Sessions/Magistrates' Court or a higher court. These include theft up to a certain value, burglary, indecent assault, offences against prostitution regulation legislation, criminal damage to property, occupational health and safety offences. Committal proceedings are also conducted in Courts of Petty Sessions/Magistrates' Courts in order to determine whether a case involving a more serious offence should proceed to a higher court.

The civil jurisdiction includes claims for debts arising out of contractual disputes, claims for losses arising out of a breach of duty such as negligence, claims for damages arising out of motor vehicle accidents or assaults and claims for taxes due.

The licensing jurisdiction has diminished in the twentieth century. At different times it has included the issue of licenses for gold buyers, auctioneers, carriers, pawnbrokers, estate agents, commercial agents and sub agents, inquiry agents, hawkers and pedlars. By 1991 the only licences still issued by Magistrates' Courts were for commercial agents and sub-agents and hawkers and pedlars.

The family law jurisdiction includes matters relating to child support assessment, maintenance, custody, guardianship, access, change of name, marriage of under age persons, property interests of de facto partners and, since 1987, family violence intervention orders. From the ?1930's until the ?1950's Courts of Petty Sessions were also responsible for granting adoptions.

Court Registers: Successive Justices' Acts and, more recently, Magistrates' Court Acts have required the clerk or registrar of the 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 usually called a Cause List Book and had a slightly different format, since then the term Register has been used.

Initially most clerks maintained a single sequence of registers for all or most of the court's business. However in the twentieth century some courts have maintained several sequences of registers according to different types of matters dealt with by the court. Typically criminal matters have been registered separately from civil matters, matters under Commonwealth legislation, matters relating to traffic offences, licensing applications and various types of civil cases have all been registered separately. Some courts dealing with a large number of criminal cases have maintained separate registers for matters brought to court by summons and by arrest, and some have used separate volumes for each courtroom. Where courts have subdivided the registration of cases into several sequences, each has been allocated a different Victorian Public Record Series number and the specific type of register has been included in the series title. The inventory of series for this court lists other types of registers used.

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.