In 2025, it will be 235 years since the creation of the Royal Court of Extremadura, the predecessor of what is now the High Court of Justice of the Autonomous Community of Extremadura. This institution, whose activity over the past two centuries has not been interrupted by changes of regime, war, or any other type of event, has overcome circumstances to continue dispensing justice, guaranteeing peaceful and equal coexistence for the citizens of the region, and serving as a pillar of Extremadura's identity as a community.
One of the institutions that has most marked the history of Extremadura has been the presence of the judicial bodies that have formed part of the Administration of Justice in this region. Throughout history, we have gone from the figure of the king as the sole dispenser of justice without any possibility of appeal, to the judges who dispensed justice in the name of the King, and finally to the creation of Audiencias (Courtyards) during the Bourbon monarchy. In order to oversee the Kingdom and streamline the administration of justice, the courts were expanded to Territorial Audiencias (Royal Courts).
The Royal Courts were created to address all the damages and grievances that existed in all territories. Due in part to the slowness of appealing to the Chancelleries of Valladolid and Granada, the Council of Castile was asked to create other judicial institutions with the emergence of the Royal Courts.
In our case, the original purpose of creating the Royal Court of Extremadura was to streamline judicial proceedings in the Chancelleries of Valladolid and Granada and avoid the waiting times that in some ways fostered delinquency, grievances, and crime in our territory. Therefore, the cities of Badajoz, Mérida, Plasencia, and Alcántara petitioned the monarch for the creation of a judicial institution that would streamline judicial procedures.
This was when the Council of Castile proposed the creation of the Court in 1775, ordered by Charles III on March 11, 1776. However, it was not implemented that year, but was implemented years later by Charles IV in 1790, through the Pragmatic Sanction of May 30.
In conclusion, the Administration of Justice in the territory of the Autonomous Community of Extremadura has been very significant. Not only because Charles IV decided to create the Royal Court of Extremadura in 1790, but also because of the transformation this institution has undergone throughout history. Territorial Courts, Provincial Courts, Courts in general, and their culmination in the High Court of Extremadura form a solid institution whose main objective is to serve the public quickly and efficiently.
