VPRS 4458 Court of Petty Sessions Record Book

Full description

Courts of Petty Sessions, or Magistrates' Courts as they have been called since 1971, dealt with a very large range of minor court matters and provided the lowest level of redress in civil and criminal matters. By the 1850's, an authoritative record of all decisions and orders made by these Courts was required to be kept, known as the Record Book. Usually civil and criminal matters were recorded in the same volume, although the largest and busiest courts may have created separate civil and criminal books.

Unlike the Court of Petty Sessions Cause List Books that ultimately replaced them from 1858, record books were not generally created in a common format. This means that the information recorded for each case can vary within a given book or between different courts. The following details were usually recorded:

- name of the Court and date of sitting
- name of the accused (in criminal cases)
- names of the complainant and defendant (in civil cases)
- the cause (i.e the criminal charge of nature of the civil complaint)
- the decision, and
- any remarks.

Record books appear to have been replaced by Cause List Books, which were introduced in late 1858 and which were created in a common format. In some Courts a record book and cause list book were maintained simultaneously for a time, essentially detailing the same information for each case. In some Courts, it is possible that the record book after 1858 performed the same function as a Deposition Book.