The "Diputació del General de Catalunya" was constituted in the middle of the 14th century, during the kingdom of Peter IV the Ceremonious, when the commissions for the management of the benefits conceded in the Cortes became permanent. It was exactly created in 1359 (Cortes of Cervera), when the War of the two Peters against Castile brought a financial effort without precedents.

The institution was consolidated in the Cortes of Monzón in 1362-63, when the most characteristic taxes of the "Diputació", the "generalitats", were created and when the three deputies, one per branch, were established. These last ones had to live in Barcelona as they were important authorities.

The King Ferdinand I approved the institution in its final form, with its organization and judicial, financial and political responsibilities for the defence of the Constitutions in the Cortes of Barcelona.

As a result of the succession of the King Charles II in 1700, the Principality of Catalonia accepted again the King Philip V of Bourbon until 1705, when there was a change of side under the protection of the pact of Genova. The end of the Spanish War of Succession, with its siege and capitulation in Barcelona on the 11th of September 1714, determined the abolition of the "Diputació del General". The King Philip V annulled the institution by means of the Decree of Nova Planta in 1716.

When the institution was abolished in 1714, its archive was abandoned in the attic of the Royal Audience of Catalonia (Reial Audiència de Catalunya), concretely at the building that had been used as the Palace of the "Diputació". During the Liberal Triennial, in 1825, it was delivered by means of the Royal Order issued on the 20th of July to the Archive of the Crown of Aragon. The "Reial Audiència" reclaimed and obtained the devolution of the archive of the old "Diputació" and, finally, by means of the Royal Order issued on the 9th of November 1827, come into effect in March 1828, it was delivered again to the ACA.