Reichskammergericht

The Reichskammergericht (German: [ˈʁaɪçs.kamɐɡəˌʁɪçt], Imperial Chamber Court; Latin: Iudicium imperii) was one of two highest judicial institutions in the Holy Roman Empire, the other one being the Aulic Council in Vienna. It was founded in 1495 by the Imperial Diet in Worms. All legal proceedings in the Holy Roman Empire could be brought to the Imperial Chamber Court, except if the ruler of the territory had a so-called privilegium de non appellando, in which case the highest judicial institution was found by the ruler of that territory. Another exception was criminal law. The Imperial Chamber Court could only intervene in criminal cases if basic procedural rules had been violated.

The Imperial Chamber Court was infamous for the long time it took to reach a verdict. Some proceedings, especially in lawsuits between different states of the Empire, took several hundred years. Some of the lawsuits were not brought to an end by the time it was dissolved in 1806 following 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.

Recent research also brought to light that, especially in the 18th century, the rulings of the court 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 Imperial Chamber Court to the National Assembly in Revolutionary France.

At its foundation the court was seated in Frankfurt, but was later moved to Worms, Augsburg, Nürnberg, Regensburg, Speyer, Esslingen, again Speyer (1527 to 1689) and finally to Wetzlar until it was dissolved in 1806.

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