The Palais de Justice occupies a large part of the medieval Palais de la Cité, the former royal palace of the kings of France, which also includes Sainte Chapelle, the royal chapel, and the Conciergerie, a notorious former prison, which operated from 1380 to 1914.

This enormous hall began to be used for theatrical performances, the meetings of the Parlement of Paris, a judicial body composed of the high French nobility.

Among the last to be executed was the Chief Prosecutor, Antoine Quentin Fouquier-Tinville, bringing the Reign of Terror to a close.

Under the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, the Restoration and the July Monarchy, various projects were put forward for a new and larger structure.

Unlike most of the proposed structures, which were in the neo-classical style, with columns and pediments, Huyot's plan was neo-Renaissance.

Then, in May, 1871, as the French army moved to take back the city from the Communards in what became known as the Semaine Sanglante ("Bloody Week”), arsonists from the Commune, rapidly losing ground to the French Army, set fire to the interior of the new building, almost entirely destroying it.

The work was finished by Albert Tournaire with the completion of the Tribunal correctionnel at the southeast corner, on the quai des Orfevres.

[5] In October 1945, after the end of World War II, the Palais of Justice courtrooms were used to try the highest French officials who had collaborated with the Nazi occupation.

Those put on trial included the former prime minister Pierre Laval and Marshal Philippe Pétain.

The lower portion of the Conciergerie became an historical heritage site, while the upper levels continued to be occupied by judicial offices.

Inside, most of the space is occupied by the courtrooms, legal offices, and support functions, including a large law library.

It has jurisdiction over all civil and criminal matters triable in the judicial system, and is the supreme court of appeal in these cases.