[2] The vegueries system is based on the feudal administrative territorial jurisdiction of the Principality of Catalonia, which was abolished with the Nueva Planta decrees of 1716.

The current administrative division was established by the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006 with two functions: an inter-municipal government and the arrangement of the services from the Generalitat de Catalunya.

[4] Although the vegueries are intended to become Catalonia's only first-level administrative division and a full replacement for the four diputacions of the official provinces of Catalonia within the Spanish system in the future and create a council for each vegueria,[5] the latter is currently still used administratively at state level,[6][7] as any changes to the State's provinces were ruled to violate the Spanish Constitution.

[4] (1 Jan 2024)[9] The origins of the vegueria go back to the era of the Carolingian Empire, when vicars (Latin: vicarii, singular vicarius) were installed beneath the counts in the Marca Hispanica.

Once the Aragonese crown had finally subdued most of the Kingdom of Sardinia to their rule by the end of the fourteenth century, they had subdivided its government into vegueries.

[3] In 1833, the new Spanish territorial division divided Spain into provinces, subdividing Catalonia in four (Barcelona, Lleida, Tarragona and Girona), which did not adequate to the comarques, but outside of minor differences remains in use today.

The organisation was as follows: In 1937, a government decree reinstated the name of vegueries, but they were abolished by the Francoist regime at the end of the Spanish Civil War.

Under the 2006 Statute of Autonomy, the four Catalan diputacions, which follow the Spanish province system, were to be superseded by seven consells de vegueries, additionally taking over many of the comarques' functions.

[21] Although the law allows for an inter-municipal government and the organisation of the services of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the unapproved proposal aims to replace the current provincial deputations and to make the administrative structures more efficient.