The Palais de Justice (; '"Palace of Justice"), is a judicial center and courthouse in Paris, located on the Île de la Cité. It contains the Court of Appeal of Paris, the busiest appellate court in France, and France's highest court for ordinary cases, the Court of Cassation. It formerly housed the Tribunal de grande instance de Paris which was relocated in 2018 to a new high-rise building in Paris's Batignolles neighborhood. 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. It is located in close proximity to the Tribunal of Commerce, the Prefecture of Police of Paris, and the offices of the Paris Bar Association. History Royal Courtroom to Revolutionary courtroom Under King Robert II of France the Palais de la Cité began to serve as the home of a high court or council for the King. He constructed the Hall of the King, where the Curia Regis, or King's Council met. This was replaced by a much larger hall, the Grand Chamber, under Philip IV (1268-34). This enormous hall began to be used for theatrical performances, the meetings of the Parlement de Paris, an advisory body composed of the high French nobility. and for judicial sessions. In 1358, a Paris uprising led by the merchant Etienne Marcel caused the future king, Charles V of France, to depart Paris for safer quarters farther from the center of Paris; first at Saint-Pol, then near the Bastille, then the Louvre Palace. The judicial function, however, remained at the old palace. The Parlement of Paris, meeting in the Grand Chamber, was an appeals court for royal tribunals and the court of first instance in cases involving the nobility. Furthermore, its approval was required for royal ordinances. This gave it growing power in the feuds between the monarchy and the nobility. Louis XV attended his first court session there in 1715 at age five. The other judicial offices that remained were the Chambre des comptes and the Chancellery. The very decorative gilded wrought iron grillwork and gateway were put in place in 1776. The facade and principal entrance of the Palace, facing the Court of May, was entirely rebuilt between 1783 and 1786 with a neo-classical colonnade.