Courthouses in New South Wales were designed by the
Colonial Architect, later known as the Government Architect of
New South Wales
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, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, Australia.
History of New South Wales Local Courts
The first New South Welsh Charter of Justice of 2 April 1787 created the power to convene a criminal court. This was the
Court of Criminal Jurisdiction
The Court of Criminal Jurisdiction was a criminal court established in 1787 under the auspices of the First Charter of Justice in the British Empire of New South Wales, now a state of Australia. The Court of Criminal Jurisdiction was the first cri ...
. The first Charter of Justice also created a
Court of Civil Jurisdiction to hear and determine in a summary way all pleas relating to real and personal property, debts, contracts, grant of probates and to administer intestate estates. Magistrates appointed in the early years of the colony were unpaid honorary appointments. The first paid magistrate was
D'Arcy Wentworth
D'Arcy Wentworth (14 February 1762 – 7 July 1827) was an Irish surgeon, the first paying passenger to arrive in the new colony of New South Wales. He served under the first seven governors of the Colony, and from 1810 to 1821, he was ''great ...
appointed in 1810.
Local Courts were known as Courts of Petty Sessions. Such courts had originated in England in the fourteenth century. Although during the early years of the colony references are made to Courts of Petty Session sittings by Magistrates, it was not until 1832 that Courts of Petty Sessions were formally established in New South Wales.
The first Courts of Petty Sessions were proclaimed in the Government Gazette of 3 October 1832. The proclamations gave notice that Courts of Petty Sessions were to be held at the following locations: Sydney (Police Office and
Hyde Park Barracks), Inverary,
Parramatta
Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...
,
Bathurst,
Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
,
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
,
Penrith, Paterson's Plains,
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
,
Maitland
Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...
,
Campbelltown,
Darlington,
Wollongong
Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wa ...
, Invermein, Stonequarry Creek,
Port Stephens,
Bong Bong or
Berrima,
Port Macquarie
Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Sea c ...
, Goulburn Plains.
More than three hundred courthouses have been built in New South Wales since settlement. The oldest existing Local Court in New South Wales is the Local Court at Windsor which was built in 1821.
In 1985 the Local Courts Act abolished Courts of Petty Sessions by changing their name to Local Courts and appointments are now made under that Act. There are currently 160
Local Courts established throughout New South Wales and 130 Magistrates appointed.
Current role
Local Courts in New South Wales have jurisdiction to deal with:
* most criminal and summary prosecutions
* civil matters with a monetary value of up to $60,000
* committal hearings
* family law matters
* child care proceedings
* juvenile prosecutions and care matters
* coronial inquiries
* industrial matters
* mining matters
Local Courts also provide the following services:
*Court Registries administer the sittings of the Local Court and provide registry services to the Court's clients.
*The Chamber Magistrate provides information about legal options and court proceedings, but cannot represent people appearing before the Court. In smaller Courts, the Chamber Magistrate service is often provided by the Clerk of the Court.
*Coroners hold inquests into deaths and inquiries into fires. Outside the metropolitan area, most Clerks of the Local Court are appointed as Coroners for the State. Within the metropolitan area, appointed coroners sit at the
Coroner's Court of New South Wales in
Glebe
Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...
.
*Marriage Celebrant: Clerks of the Local Court at most country registries (and some larger metropolitan registries) are authorised to perform marriages.
*Licensing: Most major country and outer metropolitan registries process applications for and issue certain licences such as a liquor licence or commercial agents licence.
Partial list of courthouse buildings of New South Wales
The following courthouses are located in New South Wales, with the
Colonial Architect James Barnet
James Johnstone Barnet, (1827 in Almericlose, Arbroath, Scotland – 16 December 1904 in Forest Lodge, Sydney, New South Wales) was the Colonial Architect for Colonial New South Wales, serving from 1862 to 1890.
Early life
Born the son of a ...
and his office responsible for designing and building 130 courthouses across the state. Some of the courthouses designed by Barnet replaced existing courthouses where it was deemed the building had been outgrown:
Courthouses in current use
Former courthouses
References
External links
{{Commons category-inline, Court houses in New South Wales
Lists of courthouses
Lists of buildings and structures in New South Wales