Debit commission

A debit commission (from the Latin debere "to owe") was in the Holy Roman Empire a means to resolve the problems of over-indebted states. These states were usually, but not always, sovereign Imperial States.

The Aulic Council was entitled to delegate its authority to an "imperial commission". Such a commission could be tasked to deal with all subject matter for which the Aulic Council itself was responsible. In about three quarters of all cases, the Council did this at the request of one of the parties in a case before the Council. To what extent the Council used commissions has not yet been exhaustively researched. This is partly due to the fact that Council would often delegate organizational matters to an imperial commission, such as regulating an inheritance of guardianship. Only a small subset of the imperial commissions were used to resolve legal disputes. During the reign of Emperor Ferdinand III, 650 such commissions were documented. In over 70 cases, the Council rejected a request to create an imperial commission.

The commission would be established by an imperial patent, based on a decision by the Aulic Council. Formally, the commission would act on behalf of the Emperor.

A commission would consist of one or more members. Usually they would be selected on the basis of geographical proximity to the parties, and would be members of the same Imperial Circle. In the early days, meticulous attention was paid to the religious affiliation of the commissioners.

Parties could object to the creation of a commission or the selection of its members, if, for example, they were perceive to be biased. The Aulic Council would rule on such objections. A few states (for example, the imperial city of Regensburg) had a privilege granted by Emperor Charles V, exempting them from the commissions system.

Various different tasks could be assigned to an imperial commissions. Some commissions were only tasked with an inquiry; others were charged with the implementation of various measures.

If a legel decision had to be made, the Aulic Council would usually make it, although sometimes the council would appoint a "deciding judge" or a "deciding commission, who were authorized to make legal decisions. The imperial commission would usually try to find a compromise solution to resolve the conflict, and secure this compromise in a treaty between the parties.

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