Court Visit: Children's Court, Magistrate Court and Welfare System in Australia

Running head: COURT VISIT
COURT VISIT
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

COURT VISIT1
Fair administration of justice and law is the main objective of the legal system of any
region throughout the world (Davidson, 2019). In Australia, the judicial system comprises of
judges sitting at the courts to adjudicate legal issues through legal proceedings. In this
assignment, at first the Children’s court and its functions will be discussed in brief (Wallace,
Roach Anleu & Mack, 2017). After this, the assignment enumerates the court visit experience
gathered in the Magistrate of Victoria where hearing of a case is observed. Finally the
assignment is wrapped up by discussing welfare system of the Australia in relation to the
observed court case.
One of the special type of courts is called the Children’s court which has the authority
and jurisdiction of hearing cases involving children and young people below 17 years of age
(Sheehan, 2018). This type of court deals with cases where the person involved is below 17 years
and who needs care and protection. It is a specialist court having a Criminal as well as a family
division. The Children’s court mainly deals with the cases where offences are committed by
children who are aged between 10 and 17 years.
Another type of court is the magistrate’s court. In Victoria, it is the first level of the court
system of Victoria. It can be considered as the lowest court of the state. It is actually a court
having summary jurisdiction. It has the jurisdiction to hear various types including committal
hearings, police prosecutions, hearing of warrant application, hearing of bail applications,
litigations involving money claims together with other disputes involving civil issues not
exceeding value of 100000 $ along with disputes related to family violence and family law. This
court was formed under the effect of the Magistrates' Court Act 1989 (Victoria).

COURT VISIT2
For the purpose of the court visit assignment, I went to the Victorian Magistrate’s court.
It is a part of our study as it helps to gain experience in a practical manner regarding the court
procedures, behavior of judges and legal proceedings. It helps to bridge the gap between the real
life experience and conventional bookish knowledge. For this, I paid a visit to the magistrate
court on 11th November 2019. At around 9am I reached the court. I carried a notebook and a pen
to note down any important facts. Prior to the entry, security check was conducted so that safety
is ensured. I was asked by the security person to switch off the phone or keep the phone in silent
mode in order to prevent any unintentional disturbances due to sudden ringing of the phone.
I climbed up to the 2nd floor and went inside room number 21. I could find a suitable seat
for me from the entire room along with the magistrate can be seen. The room consists of a public
gallery, a witness box, a bar table where the parties to the litigation sit, a raised bench for the
sitting of the magistrate along with a clerk. I also found that the court facilities for video
conferencing where the witnesses can appear via remote video conferencing instead of being in
person. Such facility is usually used in situations where the witnesses are unable to travel or
when the prisoner cannot travel in person to the court.
The magistrate was not present. When he entered into the court room, every one stood up
and remained so unless he sat down. The case that I observed was involving a taxi driver having
origin in Bangladesh. It was a petty case where the taxi driver was accused of infringing traffic
rules. For this, he was issued an infringement ticket by a police officer. The police officer who
issued the ticket was present too. The proceedings began when the magistrate asked the driver
whether he was aware of the allegation he accused of. He accepted but defended the allegation.