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The Wellington High Court was one of 19 High Courts throughout New Zealand and was administered by the Department for Courts.

The role of High Courts in New Zealand was to try the more serious criminal and civil cases, to administer the probating of wills, the hearing of divorce cases and bankruptcy cases as well as a number of other duties including maintenance of criminal registers (which recorded details of all the offences committed to the High Court), miscellaneous registers (which detailed criminal, civil and domestic appeals, matrimonial property applications and the winding up of companies), Writs of Sale (which registered proceedings for recovering money from defaulting debtors), Chattels (which recorded hire purchase agreements and loans against assets) and Admiralty (which recorded proceedings involving vessels).

High Courts were originally called Supreme Courts and the first Supreme Court was established in 1841 in Auckland. The 19 enactments which governed Supreme Courts were consolidated in 1908 by the Judicature Act 1908 which remained the statute which governed the role of High Courts. Supreme Courts were renamed High Courts in 1980, but their function did not alter.

All High Courts except Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch were located in the same building as the local District Courts and shared the same staff. In Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, the High Courts were physically separate from the local District Courts.

The Wellington Supreme/High Court

The earliest sitting of a Supreme Court at Wellington took place on the 4^th October 1842 at Barrett's Hotel on Lambton Quay and Molesworth Streets. Chief Justice William Martin, the first Supreme Court judge appointed to the colony, was the presiding judge. Judge Martin made the difficult journey from Auckland to Wellington to hear these early cases.  As  Wellington grew in population and economic activity expanded so did the amount of judicial business increase. On 26 December 1843 Henry Samuel Chapman, recently arrived from the United Kingdom formally took up his duties as Wellington's first Supreme Court Judge. Judge Chapman's appointment covered the whole Southern District of the colony, including Wellington, Nelson, New Plymouth and later Christchurch.

Supreme Court sittings at Wellington soon became regular fixtures covering both civil and criminal matters. Judge Chapman was also required to attend other Supreme Court sittings outside of the Wellington region. This additional burden of court circuit duty was not relieved until the 1850s when additional judges were appointed and land communications improved. Up to 1858 the Supreme Court in New Zealand was given the same powers of the Common Law Courts in England in all matters: ecclesiastical, lunacy, civil, vice-admiralty, and criminal jurisdiction. The Supreme Court Judges Act 1858 codified the rules of the Supreme Court and strengthened the independence of the judiciary. Much of the law relating to Supreme Courts was made more relevant to the needs of the colony. The Supreme Court Act 1860 consolidated this period of judicial administration.

The stature of Wellingtons Supreme Court was given greater emphasis when the capital was moved to Wellington in 1865. Court business was brisk in the 1860s and 1870s and it soon became apparent that the existing court building on Lambton Quay was inadequate. A new court building in present day Stout Street was completed in 1881. This handsome neo-classical building soon established itself as the pre-eminent court in New Zealand. Over the succeeding decades some of the most famous and infamous cases in New Zealand's judicial history were heard at the Wellington Supreme Court and the building itself became an architectural landmark.

Supreme Court business at Wellington was identical to sittings throughout New Zealand with a mixture of both civil and criminal cases. All courts experienced a steady growth in the amount of work over the decades. Increased numbers of cases placed demands on both courts staff and facilities especially during times of retrenchment and cutback.  The administrative division in particular was often under considerable pressure due to the expanded work load.  Wellington Supreme Court duties in a typical year would cover the following:

• Actions
• Civil Cases
• Petitions for Divorce
• Applications for ancillary relief
• Motions for probate
• Bankruptcy matters
• Adjudications
• Chattels Securities and Satisfactions
• Miscellaneous Applications
• Criminal Appeals
• Civil Appeals
• Cases re Administration of estates of persons deemed to be suffering from mental illness
• Taxations
• Sheriffs Writs of Execution
• Sales Effected
• Mortgagee Sales Applications
• Rating Sales
• Practising Certificates
• Criminal Trials
• Land Valuation
• Clerk of Awards
• Compensation Court
• Indecent Publications

The Indecent Publications Tribunal was administered by the Wellington Supreme Court from its establishment by Act in 1963 until 1 January 1974, when it was transferred to the Department of Justice, Tribunals Division.

By the early 1970s the Stout Street building was starting to show its age despite improvements over the years. Both the court session rooms and the administrative areas were becoming increasingly inadequate and costly to maintain. After a lengthy period of gestation (primarily over land acquisition) a new Supreme Court Building was constructed and completed at 2 Molesworth Street in 1993.

Maintaining adequate numbers of trained staff and budgetary restraints remained a constant issue for all Courts during the 1970s and continued after 1980 when the Supreme Courts were renamed High Courts. Court business was furthered hampered by the increased number of sessions required by both the High and District Courts. The introduction of computerised technology and changes in court management throughout New Zealand’s justice system eased the administrative burden and backlog of cases. Though by 2007 all High Courts were again under pressure from a heavy workload. Court staff continued to be responsible for supporting the management of cases before the Court and, as Registrars and Sheriffs of the Court, were responsible for exercising certain judicial powers, and enforcing the Court's judgements and orders.