The High Court of Justice of the Basque Country, as is the case with the other High Courts of Justice in each of the seventeen Autonomous Regions, was established on 23 May 1989.

Article 152 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 stipulates that, in the Statutes of Autonomy, regional institutional organisation, in accordance with the principle of the separation of powers, must entail the following:

a) A Legislative Assembly;

b) A Governing Council and a President, elected by the Legislative Assembly; and

c) A High Court of Justice that, subject to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, will occupy the most senior position within the judicial hierarchy of the Autonomous Region; and, with the same qualification, it affirms that appellate jurisdiction, where applicable, will fall to judicial bodies within the territory taken in by the Autonomous Region.

The Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country (1979) addresses the Judicial Administration in the Basque Country in Title II, focusing on the regulation of powers within the Basque Country. Article 34 of the Statute stipulates that the most senior position within the hierarchy of the Judicial Administration in the Basque Country will be occupied by the High Court of Justice, which will have competence throughout the Autonomous Region, representing the highest appellate body within the judicial hierarchy, which is to be structured in accordance with the stipulations of the Organic Law on the Judiciary.

The Organic Law on the Judiciary (1985) stipulates the Chambers that make up the High Courts of Justice, their composition and their respective jurisdictional competencies, whilst also regulating the system for appointments to the posts of President of the High Court of Justice, Presidents of the Chambers and of Sections and the Magistrates who form the Chambers and Sections.

Within the history of Judicial Administration in Spain, the Basque Country High Court of Justice is the first judicial body with jurisdiction taking in the provincial territories of Araba/Álava, Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia.

On the date on which the High Court of Justice was established, the Provincial Courts of Bilbao, with jurisdiction over Bizkaia and Araba/Álava, and the Provincial Court of Pamplona, with jurisdiction that included the province of Gipuzkoa, were dissolved. The Provincial Courts were the product of the design for the territorial organisation of the Judicial Administration envisaged in Title V of the Spanish Constitution of 1812 and the Organic Law on the Judiciary on 1870.