VPRS 8479 Court of Petty Sessions Index to Convictions

Full description

Indexes to Convictions were created in most Courts of Petty Sessions from the 1880's until the 1960's. Throughout this period, various circular instructions from the Law Department to Clerks of Courts required them to keep an index by surname of convicted person to all criminal convictions and orders made at their court. This index allowed clerks to find the entry for a particular case in the Court's register. Since the mid 1960's Clerks of Courts have not been required to maintain such an index, although a few courts have continued to use informal indexing systems.

Although specially printed index books were provided to all courts, the manner in which the index was kept varied from court to court:

Usually included in the index were:

the names and case details (see below) of all persons found guilty of a criminal charge under Victorian legislation (ie criminal convictions which were entered in the "ordinary" register of the Court of Petty Sessions)

Sometimes included in the index were:

the names and case details (see below) of all persons found guilty of a criminal charge under Commonwealth legislation (ie criminal convictions which were entered in the Commonwealth Register). These entries were sometimes distinguished from those in the "ordinary" register by being written in red, or by the inclusion in the entry of the letters "Cwth".

Not usually included in the index were:

references to any civil orders or licensing matters

references to defendants in criminal matters who were found not guilty, or where the charges were struck out.

after 1918 entries for convictions for truancy, non-vaccination, drunkenness and non-attendance at drill (under the Commonwealth Defence Act) were not required to be indexed.