Founded in 1808, the Penang High Court is the oldest high court in Malaysia. Its establishment followed the Royal Charter of Justice granted by King George III in 1807, which introduced the first modern legal system to the Malay Peninsula. Originally housed within Fort Cornwallis, the court moved to its current location on Light Street in 1809, where it initially occupied a simple wooden structure with an attap roof. The current permanent building was designed by Surveyor-General John Henry McCallum and inaugurated in 1903. Over the years, the court has been the site of many "firsts," including the admission of the first female judge in Malaya during the 1920s and the call to the bar of Malaysia’s first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, in 1974.