This section deals with summary offences and the procedures a defendant will encounter in the Magistrates Court. A person charged with a summary offence is known as the defendant. The plaintiff in a criminal matter is the Crown (the State) but prosecutions in the Magistrates Court are conducted by police prosecutors on behalf of the Crown. A police prosecutor is known as the 'complainant' who lays the charge before the court. Therefore the parties to a summary case are police and defendants.

For definitions of summary offences and indicatable offences go to TYPES OF CRIMES AND COURTS.