SAP103 Court Visit Report: Observation in Magistrate of Victoria Court

This report details a student's court visit to the Magistrate Court of Victoria as part of the SAP103 Introduction to Welfare Law course. The report begins with a brief overview of the Children's Court and the Magistrate's Court, outlining their jurisdictions and functions. The core of the report focuses on the student's observation of a traffic violation case involving a taxi driver. The observation includes details of the courtroom setup, the roles of the magistrate and police officer, and the proceedings of the case, including the driver's defense and the magistrate's decision to impose a fine. The report concludes by discussing the broader implications of the court proceedings, emphasizing the role of fines in upholding traffic regulations and contributing to the overall welfare system in Australia. The report references relevant legislation and provides a clear picture of court procedures and the application of law in practice.

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

1COURT VISIT
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).

2COURT VISIT
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.

3COURT VISIT
The magistrate asked the traffic officer to explain him the facts of the case in brief. He
said that he breached the Road Safety Road Rules 2017 - Regulation 181 (Sun, 2017). He
explained as per the said regulation, a driver is required not to stop in a works zone unless such
driver is driving a vehicle which is involved in construction work near or in the zone. In such
cases, the driver will be liable for 2 penalty units. The driver was explained the allegation on the
basis of the said section. He was accused of parking in the works zone. It denotes that a fair trial
is followed where the accused is made aware of the charge which was brought against him.
The driver then tried to give justifications stating that he stopped near the work zone to
receive a phone call which he thought to be urgent and important as it was from his native place.
The magistrate stated that this is not a valid justification as stopping in the work zone is no way
permitted unless he was driving the construction zone. He further stated that he was being
targeted by the police officer as he was not an Australian citizen.
The traffic officer to support his allegation against the driver had clicked some pictures of
the taxi being parked in the work zone. Those pictures were handed to the magistrate for his kind
perusal. The picture showed that he was actually smoking inside the taxi which showed that he
was lying actually. Thus the magistrate became sure that the traffic officer did his duty in the
right manner. Finally he was ordered to pay fine of 330 $ within 1 month from the date of the
order.
From the court visit, a clear picture of the court proceedings of Australia can be drawn.
Here although fine of 330$ seems to be a huge amount however it is required as it will prevent
the driver to do the same act again. Fines are imposed to make the common people including the

4COURT VISIT
drivers and the pedestrians to follow the traffic rules and regulations which help in the
development and maintaining the welfare system.

5COURT VISIT
References:
Davidson, S., 2019. Fair Trial Issues. The International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies,
pp.1-7.
Magistrates' Court Act 1989 (Victoria)
Road Safety Road Rules 2017
Sheehan, R. (2018). Magistrates' decision-making in child protection cases. Routledge.
Sun, Y., Olaru, D., Smith, B., Greaves, S., & Collins, A. (2017). Road to autonomous vehicles in
Australia: an exploratory literature review. Road & Transport Research: A Journal of
Australian and New Zealand Research and Practice, 26(1), 34.
Wallace, A., Roach Anleu, S., & Mack, K. (2017). Judicial work and AV use: perceptions from
Australian courts. Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 7(4).