Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland

When, however, the rebellious provinces of Holland and Zeeland became physically separated from this court due to the difficulties for travellers during the military campaigns of the early Eighty Years' War after 1572, the practical lack of a possibility of appeal from sentences of the Hof van Holland (the provincial High Court for both provinces since 1428[2]) was felt as a serious problem.

The States-General of the Netherlands decided to replace the Great Council in the provinces of the Union of Utrecht with its own "supra-provincial' court in 1582.

But only the States of Holland accepted for the time being such a supreme court, which meant that its jurisdiction remained limited to that province.

[3]: 9–12 The Instructie that the States-General drew up, promulgated on 31 May 1582 by William the Silent, to regulate the Supreme Court was in large part based on the Ordonnance of 1559 that governed the Great Council.

Cases of Reversal (i.e. in which a final verdict was reviewed and possibly overturned) were reserved for the States-General which as Hoge Overheid or sovereign power in the Republic was the ultimate fount of justice (the States-General exceptionally also took politically sensitive cases, like the trial of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt and Hugo Grotius in 1618 and the trial of the Amboyna judges).

Finally, the Supreme Court acted in cases of voluntary adjudication of Public instruments (in Dutch: Authentieke akten).

These were the offices in the court that were filled by the Stadtholder (for life, in the case of the councillors) on the nomination of the States of the two provinces.

The court further had a modest administrative staff that in case of need was augmented with servants of the Hof van Holland, which also resided in The Hague, next door in the Binnenhof.

[3]: 14–16 Two councillors held the weekly audience in which petitioners and lawyers presented documents for the cases the court heard.

Individual councillors informally acted as mediators between parties to promote settlements (which could be reached at any stage of a case before the final verdict).