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Encyclopedia > Reichskammergericht
Wetzlar, Germany: Reichskammergericht
Wetzlar, Germany: Reichskammergericht

The Reichskammergericht (Imperial Chamber Court) was one of two highest judicial institutions in the Holy Roman Empire, the other one being the Reichshofrat (Aulic Council) in Vienna. It was founded in 1495 by the Reichstag in Worms. All legal proceedings in the Holy Roman Empire could be brought to the Reichskammergericht, except if the ruler of the territory had a so-called privilegium de non appellando, in which case the highest judicial institution was founded by the ruler of that territory. Another exception was criminal law. The Reichskammergericht could only intervene in criminal cases if basic procedural rules had been violated. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1536x2048, 747 KB) Wetzlar, Germany: former seat of the Reichskammergericht (Imperial Court of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation) Photographed by Andreas Praefcke, 2003 File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1536x2048, 747 KB) Wetzlar, Germany: former seat of the Reichskammergericht (Imperial Court of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation) Photographed by Andreas Praefcke, 2003 File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other... Wetzlar is a town in the German federal state (Bundesland) of Hesse, capital of the Lahn-Dill district. ... The extent of the Holy Roman Empire in c. ... The Aulic Council (from the Latin aula, court in feudal language, in antiquity a hellenistic type of grand residence, usually private) was originally an executive-judicial council for the Holy Roman Empire. ... 1495 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Reichstag (German for Imperial Diet) was the parliament of the Holy Roman Empire, the North German Confederation, and of Germany until 1945. ... // Worms (pronounced ) is a city in the southwest of Germany. ... From latin words meaning privilege of (having the right to) not be appealed. The phrase denotes the status by which a person or an institution is exempted from the jurisdiction of the Imperial Courts in matters of appeal, in which a lower courts decision has its proceedings reviewed by...


The Reichskammergericht was infamous for the long time it took to reach a judgement. Some proceedings, especially in lawsuits between territories belonging to the Holy Roman Empire, took several hundred years. Some of the lawsuits were not brought to an end by the time it was dissolved in 1806, after the downfall of the Holy Roman Empire. Yet, lately it has been discovered that this could often be attributed to a loss of interest on the part of the parties involved, and that the court could sometimes be much more efficient than previously thought. Sometimes the court even ordered injunctions within a few days. 1806 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...


Recent research also brought to light that, especially in the 18th century, the rulings of the Reichskammergericht anticipated in many ways the constitutional establishment of civil liberties in Germany. For instance, the inviolability of one's housing or freedom of trade were legally introduced in the Empire by rulings of the court. At the end of the 18th century some contemporaries even compared the Reichskammergericht to the National Assembly in France. During the French Revolution, the National Assembly (French: Assemblée nationale) was a transitional body between the Estates-General and the National Constituent Assembly that existed from June 17 to July 9 of 1789. ...

Contents

History

Audience of the Reichskammergericht in the 18th century
Audience of the Reichskammergericht in the 18th century

From the early middle ages there had been a supreme court of justice for the Empire--the Hofgericht, in which the emperor himself presided. The Hofgericht was connected directly with the emperor, so it ceased to act when he was abroad and disbanded when he died. In the 15th century, the emperor ceased to command as much respect, so his court lost the confidence of his subjects. Its place was taken by the Kammergericht. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 490 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (649 × 794 pixel, file size: 234 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)   Audienz am w:de:Reichskammergericht Wetzlar Conspectus Audientiae Camerae imperialis Kupferstich, Frankfurt/Main 1750, Städtische Sammlungen Wetzlar Faithful reproductions of two-dimensional original works cannot... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 490 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (649 × 794 pixel, file size: 234 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)   Audienz am w:de:Reichskammergericht Wetzlar Conspectus Audientiae Camerae imperialis Kupferstich, Frankfurt/Main 1750, Städtische Sammlungen Wetzlar Faithful reproductions of two-dimensional original works cannot...


The king (or his deputy) still presided in the Kammergericht and it was still his personal court; but the members of the court were now officials of the court. It was generally the legal members of the council who sat in the Kammergericht. The Kamrnergericht, fell into disuse in the later years of the reign of Frederick III; and the creation of a new and efficient court became a matter of pressing necessity, and was one of the most urgent of the reforms which were mooted in the reign of Maximilian I.


The province of the Imperial Chamber, as it came to be gradually defined by statute and use, extended to breaches of the public peace, cases of arbitrary distrait or imprisonment, pleas which concerned the treasury, violations of the emperors decrees or the laws passed by the diet, disputes about property between immediate tenants of the Empire or the subjects of different rulers, and finally suits against immediate tenants of the Empire (with the exception of criminal charges and matters relating to imperial fiefs, which went to the Aulic Council).


In all its business it suffered from the competition. of the Aulic Council; and after the 16th century devoted itself exclusively to judicial work. The Aulic Council (from the Latin aula, court in feudal language, in Antiquity a hellenistic type of grand residence, usually private) was originally an executive-judicial council for the Holy Roman Empire. ...


Composed of the personal advisers of the emperor, the Aulic Council did justice on his behalf. The competition between the Aulic Council and the Imperial Chamber was finally regulated by the treaty of Westphalia, which laid it down that the court which first dealt with a case should alone have competence to pursue it.


Membership

Membership of the court was determined by both the emperor and the component states of the Empire. The emperor named the chief justice (always a high aristrocrat), several presidents of the court senates, and some of the members of the court. The majority of the judges were selected by the estates of the Empire. Originally, half of the judges were knights of the empire, and the other half doctors of Roman law, but after 1548 all judges had to be doctors of law. Events Mary I of Scotland sent to France Births September 2 - Vincenzo Scamozzi, Italian architect (died 1616) September 29 - William V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1626) Francesco Andreini, Italian actor (died 1624) Giordano Bruno, Italian philosopher, astronomer, and occultist (burned at the stake) 1600 (died 1600) Honda Tadakatsu, Japanese general...


References

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...


External links

Coordinates: 50°33′19″N, 8°30′05″E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...


  Results from FactBites:
 
Reichskammergericht - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (181 words)
The Reichskammergericht was the highest judicial institution in the Holy Roman Empire, founded in 1495 by the Reichstag in Worms.
All proceedings in the Holy Roman empire could be brought to the Reichskammergericht, except if the ruler of the territory had a so-called privilegium de non appellando, in which the highest judicial institution was founded by the ruler of that territory.
Some proceedings, especially in law suits between territories belonging to the Holy Roman Empire, took several hundred years, some of them were not brought to an end by the time it was dissolved in 1806 after the downfall of the Holy Roman Empire.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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