The beginnings of judicial authority in the area of Varaždin go back to the distant past, to the very beginning of the thirteenth century.
The city of Varaždin is mentioned for the first time in the document of King Bela III. from 1181. Hungarian King Andrija II. with his charter from 1209, he declared Varaždin a free royal city. With that charter, the city of Varaždin is exempted from the jurisdiction of the Varaždin prefect. According to the charter, "the prefect nor his castellan do not have the power to judge them (the citizens of Varaždin), but they (citizens) will appoint whoever they want as a judge among themselves." This year can therefore be taken as the beginning of the trial in Varaždin.
The election of the town judge in Varaždin took place in the fifteenth century every year "on the nearest Sunday after Martin". From the documents found, we learn that the city judge in Varaždin was elected every year, thus he did not lose the right to exercise his authority for more than a year, if the municipality re-elects him as city judge. For example, Matija Pognar was elected twice, in 1453 and 1456, and Grga Gregurić in 1455 and 1459, while Andrija Pivarić was elected four times, two years in a row. According to these data, the judge exercised administrative authority in Varaždin, "and he also administered justice to the citizens of Varaždin". He was also "the president of the city court, and performed all civil and criminal jurisdiction". According to this information, that court could also impose penalties. The citizens of Varaždin used to call the ordinary city judge "richter".
There is no information on how and how judges were paid until that time. We have the first information about this from 1699. On that day, at a session of the city council, a conclusion was reached that judges would receive an annual salary of 40 forints. For the sake of comparison, this decision determined that the councilor will receive 25 forints from the city treasury, and the notary will receive 42 forints. In the middle of the 18th century century, the city judge received an annual salary of one hundred forints. In addition, the judge also received a certain compensation in kind, and thus it is stated that the judge and the notary also receive a portion of the wine from the town's beer hall and some produce from the town's mayor "as compensation for the supervision of the town's vineyards, fields, forests and pastures."
Information about the security of judges was mentioned for the first time in 1725, and the decision of the city council confirming this was made on November 5, 1746. It follows from that decision that the city judge, as it was from 1725 to 1741 . to be assigned a "cop" - guard. The cop will receive twelve forints in ready money and another two plows of sown land from the city municipality every year. Food will be given to the cop by the city judge, and the cop will serve as his bodyguard.
During all those years, the judicial power was developing, about which we have no specific data until 1749. That year, there was a discussion about where the "appellate court of Croatian cities" should be. It should be noted that by the decision of Queen Maria Theresa sent to the Croatian Royal Council, which was founded in 1767 in the reorganization of the administration in Croatia, Varaždin was designated as the seat, in other words, Varaždin became the capital of Croatia and Slavonia.
On July 17, 1769, Queen Marija Terezija founded the first higher education institution in Varaždin; administrative-political-economic-financial sciences, so-called camera studio. That political-cameral study in Varaždin, which was moved to Zagreb after two years, was the first higher education study in Croatia where subjects were taught that roughly corresponded to the subjects of some subjects taught today at the Faculty of Law in Zagreb. From there, it follows that the Varaždin study was the beginning of the Faculty of Law in Croatia. Considering such a structure of political power with its seat in Varaždin, it is not surprising that Varaždin was also discussed as the "appeal court of Croatian cities", which is why it was already discussed before the declaration of Varaždin as the capital, and it was established that "only from Varaždin there is an appeal to the king's personal who is the representative of the king's presence". According to these data, the citizens of Varaždin have the right to do so, based on a decision from King Matthias Corvinus.
Further information about the trial is not known until June 3, 1854, when the Viennese government issued an order on the new arrangement of administrative and judicial powers in Croatia and Slavonia. On that occasion, the old Križevačka County was abolished, and its entire area was added to the Varaždin County. Within the Varaždin County there were three free royal cities - Varaždin, Koprivnica and Križevci, and the county had thirteen districts in which the seats were located - Čakovec, Ivanec, Klanjec, Koprivnica, Krapina, Križevci, Ludbreg, Pregrada, Prelog, Štrigova, Varaždinske Toplice, Varaždin and Zlatar. In Varaždin, the delegated city - district court for the city and its surroundings remains. A county court was established in Varaždin for the entire area of Varaždin County, and district courts were established in the aforementioned cities. On June 16, 1854, the Minister of Justice appointed the first judges of the County Court in Varaždin. After the Second World War, there were several reorganizations and reforms of the judiciary. During 1998, several county courts were established, including the County Court in Čakovec, until which time the County Court in Varaždin was the second-instance court for the entire Međimurje County.
The County Court in Varaždin operates at Braće Radić 2 in Varaždin in a judicial building that was built and moved into in 1964, and in which, apart from the County Court, there are also other judicial bodies - the County State Attorney's Office in Varaždin, the Municipal Court in Varaždin, the Commercial Court in Varaždin and the Misdemeanor Court in Varaždin.
Today, the County Court in Varaždin is one of the most up-to-date courts