Designed by the architect Joseph Poelaert, in an eclectic style of Greco-Roman inspiration, to replace an older courthouse,[3] the current building was erected between 1866 and 1883.

[9] The current Palace of Justice is located on the Galgenberg hill (French: Mont aux potences; "Gallows Mount"), between Brussels' upper and lower town, where in the Middle Ages convicted criminals were hanged, hence its name.

[11] Built between 1818 and 1823 by the French architect François Verly [fr] on the site of a former Jesuit church,[12] this first neoclassical structure had quickly deteriorated, and the question of building a new and larger courthouse arose as early as 1837.

In 1858, the then-Minister of Justice, Victor Tesch, suggested for the first time the gardens of the House of Merode, where the extension of the Rue de la Régence/Regentschapsstraat would be constructed.

Following a proposal from the advisor to the Court of Appeal, Gustave Bosquet [nl], aiming at installing the building perpendicular to the Rue de la Régence rather than to the right of this extension,[14] a study was entrusted to the Chief Engineer Groetaers.

[17] The architect already enjoyed an excellent reputation, having to his credit a series of very prestigious projects in the capital, such as the commemorative Congress Column (1850), the Church of St. Catherine (1854) and the restoration of the Royal Theatre of La Monnaie (1855).

Given the prominent place that the Palace of Justice was called upon to occupy in the urban landscape, Poelaert opted for an eclectic style of Greco-Roman inspiration.

[18] The building was inaugurated on 15 October 1883 by King Leopold II in the presence of his wife Queen Marie-Henriette, his daughter Princess Clémentine, and members of the Belgian royal family.

[23] The 75 landlords belonging to the nobility and the high bourgeoisie, many of whom lived in their homes,[24] received large indemnities, while the other more modest inhabitants, about a hundred, were also forced to move by the Belgian Government, though they were compensated with houses in the Tillens-Roosendael garden city (French: cité-jardin Tillens-Roosendael) in the Quartier du Chat in the Uccle municipality.

[25] Poelaert himself resided in the Marolles, only a few hundred metres from the building, on the Rue des Minimes/Minimenstraat, in a house adjoining his vast offices and workshops and communicating with them.

[10] Although the construction took place during the reign of Leopold II, the king showed little interest in the building, and it is not considered part of his extensive architectural programme in Brussels nor his legacy as the "Builder-King".

[28][29] At the end of the Second World War, on the eve of the liberation of Brussels, the retreating German forces started a fire in the Palace of Justice in order to destroy it, as well as the legal records it contained.

The Government of the Brussels-Capital Region ended up issuing two designations orders, on 3 May 2001 and on 28 February 2008, "Because of its historical, artistic and technical interest".

[37] In 2018, following the collapse of part of the ceiling, Jean de Codt, first president of the Court of Cassation and highest magistrate in the country, spoke openly in the media to demand additional financial resources to ensure the building's sustainability and the safety of those who work there.

[38] Several plans have followed to find solutions to the dilapidated rooms and to security problems, but the work is expected to last for many more years, leaving the building's future uncertain.

The building includes huge interior statues of Demosthenes and Lycurgus by the sculptor Pierre Armand Cattier [fr], and figures of the Roman jurists Cicero and Ulpian by Antoine-Félix Bouré.

[44] The central portico, 39 metres (128 ft) high, is surmounted by a helmeted bust of the ancient Greek Titaness Themis, personification of divine law and order, by Joseph Ducaju [fr].

Albert Speer, the Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany, stated in his book Inside the Third Reich that he had been dispatched to Brussels in 1940 to study the building.