The High Court of Justice of Extremadura, based in Caceres, came into being on the 23rd of May of 1989, as marked by the General Council of the Judiciary Plenary Session Agreement for its constitution, and fulfilling the requirements of the Demarcation and Judicial Staff Act.

On that day all its members were appointed and jurisdiction was granted to the Chambers for Civil and Penal Matters, Contentious and Administrative Matters, and Social and Labour Matters, thus crowning the judicial organization in our territory.
Immediately preceding its commencement, and also based in Caceres, there was already the Territorial Court. 

To know the importance and the transcendence of Justice in our Community, we must refer to its history, and there is nothing better than to let those who lived through it to tell us the facts.

Created “The Royal Court with seat in Caceres” by Pragmatic Sanction in May of 1790, the detailed account of the Opening ceremony – preserved in a document in the History Archives – gives an idea of its social impact at the time. 

A transcription of some famous paragraphs of the “Opening Ceremony Record of the Royal Court of Extremadura” by José Francisco de la Peña follows:

«On the twenty-seventh of April of seventeen hundred and ninety-one, the opening ceremony of the Royal Court of Exremadura in this town of Caceres took place, observing the ceremonial rules approved by His Majesty (God save the King) in his Royal Charter on the twentieth of February of the current year, which by the King’s command is essentially as follows: The gentlemen Mr. Arias Antonio Mon y Velarde, Mr. Juan Josef de Alfranca y Castelote, Mr. Franco Xavier de Contreras, Mr. Juan Antonio de Ynguanzo, as Chairman, and the other three members, Mr. Melchor Vasadre, Mr. Joseph Antonio Palacio, Mr. Agustín Cubeles y Roda, Mr. Pedro Bernardo de Sancho Yerto, Crime Magistrates, and the Count De la Concepción, Civil and Criminal prosecutor24, gathered together in the Convent of Saint Francis outside this city at half past ten in the morning (when the rain stopped), each attendant making his own way…

»In the said Convent a spacious Hall was adorned with carpets and decent chairs, with the Chairman and the Ministers waiting in the back room, and at the appointed time, preceded by an announcement from the Town Hall scribes, the Chairman walked into the Hall and was welcomed by the Agreement Secretary together with the Town’s Gentlemen, who had been asked specially to attend this celebration, accompanied by the officials from the Town Hall wearing formal dress, and prior act of submission to the Court, whose members stood for this purpose, sat down for a brief period whilst the auxiliaries took the necessary steps for the proper order of the carriages, the coaches and the people of the delegation, as it will be explained. And after going down to the Main Gate of the convent, accompanied by the Most Reverend Provincial Father, who was there at the time, the Guardian Father and the Community, the Gentlemen, the Town Hall officials and the Court officers climbed gradually into their carriages, and in a very short time started moving towards this Town through the road known as Camino Llano to Saint John’s Parrish, Calle de Pintores, Plaza, Calle de Zapatería Bajauntil until the Court Building, having proceeded in great solemnity, unhurriedly and with circumspection, and having the neighbours of this Town shown a singular joy, manifested partly with decent drapes hanging from windows and balconies along the route.

Afterwards the author describes in detail the order to be followed by the cortege, the arrival at the seat of the Royal Court, and the place taken by each personage. And he proceeds: 

»Having entered this Civil and Agreements Chamber, the Chairman and the Ministers took their corresponding seats, and so did the Lawyers, Court Reporters, Agreements and Chamber Scribe, and Barristers, in whose presence, and that of several Gentlemen and other ecclesiastic and secular personages who fitted in the Chamber, beyond the fence, I, the Agreements Secretary, as ordered by the Chairman, read in an intelligible manner the Royal Pragmatic Sanction, granted with the force of a Law by our Reigning Augustus Catholic Monarch (God save the King) on the thirty-first of May of seventeen hundred and ninety founding this Royal Court, and this printed document will be attached to this Report upon completion of these proceedings; and afterwards the Chairman said an inauguration Prayer as required by the day’s proceedings.  
»Afterwards and as a continuation of the proceedings, several points were discussed regarding the proper running and governing of this Royal Court, finishing at two o’clock in the afternoon. 

»In order not to deprive the Ladies of the town of the satisfaction of seeing the Gentlemen and the strangers, and to witness the setting up of the Court, some seats were set high up in the area assigned to the Agreements Secretariat, from where they could enjoy the proceedings since it is situated in front of the Courtroom. 

»That same day at night, Mister Chairman invited as guests in his house the Ministers, the Magistrates, the Town Hall Officers, the Gentlemen, their Wives and Families, the ecclesiastic Vicar, the Parrish Priests of this town, the Prelates from their Communities, Regular Clergymen, and other distinguished guests, who were offered abundant refreshments and after the priests and Regular Prelates withdrew, a big soirée took place with the musicians from Plasencia Cathedral who entered that Illustrious Hall at the request of Mister Chairman, and for the record and future notice, it is hereby duly written and certified by me.»

From the opening of the Royal Court (1791), called Territorial Court since 1834, until the constitution of the High Court of Justice of Extremadura, in 1989, almost two centuries had gone by. The Bicentenary was celebrated in 1991.