The formulation of the Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) was the task of a number of prominent legal personalities assembled in the Advisory Committee of Jurists (ACJ). Their work did, however, not take place in an institutional and political vacuum. The ACJ was set up by the Council of the League of Nations, it was organized and closely monitored by the new Secretariat of the League and the committee had to work on basis of a mandate developed by the allied powers during the Paris Peace Treaty negotiations. This chapter examines the broader political and institutional context of the Advisory Committee – from the attitude of key governments vis-à-vis the court project to the role played by the new League Secretariat and its legal section in the committee work. Adding a more global perspective to existing interpretations, it argues that the Advisory Committee should foremost be understood as an essential step in finding a compromise between the Great Powers and the smaller states regarding the establishment of the PCIJ.