The Court of Québec was created by Chapter 21 of the Statutes of Québec of 1988 , the provisions of which came into force on August 31 of that year. As of then the legislator unified the Provincial Court, the Court of Sessions of the Peace, the Youth Court and the Expropriation Tribunal.

The Court of Québec owes its origins to the Québec Act of 1774, which re-established French law in civil matters and confirmed English law in criminal matters. Back then, there were a Court of Common Pleas, circuit courts, a Court of Appeal and the Court of King's Bench for criminal cases.

Over the years, numerous changes occurred in the structure of Québec courts to keep up with changing social realities. The Magistrate's Court, created in 1869, became the Provincial Court in 1962. The Court of Sessions of the Peace was formed in 1908. The first court for children in Québec was instituted in 1910. It became the Juvenile Court in 1932 and the Social Welfare Court in 1950, and was replaced by the Youth Court in 1977.

The creation of the Court of Québec in 1988 was a major event with regard to the organization of Québec's court system. The Court of Québec immediately became one of the largest judicial institutions in the province, with 270 judges and 80% of the volume of cases heard in first instance in Québec courthouses. The creation of the Court did not, however, substantially modify the pre-unification jurisdictions of the Provincial Court, the Court of Sessions of the Peace, the Youth Court or the Expropriation Tribunal, bodies that became, respectively, the Civil Division, the Criminal and Penal Division, the Youth Division and the Expropriation Division of the Court of Québec.

At that time, the Court consisted of two regional sections « the Montréal Regional Section » and the « Québec Regional Section » each of which had a Civil Division, a Criminal and Penal Division and a Youth Division. The Court also had an Expropriation Division. The direction of the Court was assumed by a chief judge, assisted, in each regional section, by a senior associate chief judge, assisted, in turn, by associate chief judges (three in Québec City and four in Montréal). The remainder of the judicial team consisted of 19 coordinating judges residing in the chief localities of Québec's principal judicial districts.

In 1994, in light of the experience acquired and following consultation with the judges, the chief judge requested that the structure of the court be simplified with the following objectives in mind:

• to pursue the unification process begun;

• to reduce the differences between the regional sections with regard to both judicial and administrative practices;

• to foster a feeling of belonging;

• to foster participation by judges in the development of Court policies;

• to foster the consultation of all judges on judicial and administrative practices and to encourage their involvement and participation in a variety of Court activities;

• to consolidate regional self-sufficiency.
  

The legislator followed through on this collective effort in Chapter 42 of the Statutes of Québec of 1995. The regional divisions were eliminated and the functions of senior associate chief judge and of 3 associate chief judges were redefined. In order to coordinate Court activities throughout Québec, 10 coordinating judges were appointed and made responsible for one or more judicial districts. In judicial districts where the volume of work warranted it, the coordinating judge was provided with the assistance of one or more associate coordinating judges who, with their colleagues, saw to the orderly conduct of the business of the Court.

In 1998, the Expropriation Division was eliminated following the creation of the Administrative Tribunal of Québec and in 2002, a new appointment as associate chief judge, responsible for the Municipal Courts, has been added to the Court of Quebec.