Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

IMPERIAL CHAMBER (Reichskammergericht)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 342 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

IMPERIAL CHAMBER (Reichskammergericht) , the supreme judicial See also:

court of the See also:Holy See also:Roman See also:Empire, during the See also:period between 1405 and the See also:dissolution of the Empire in 18c6. From the See also:early See also:middle ages there had been a supreme court of See also:justice for the Empire--the Hofgericht (or See also:curia imperatoris, asit were), in which the See also:emperor himself presided. By his See also:side sat a See also:body of assessors ( Urtheilsfinder), who must be at least seven in number, and who might, in See also:solemn cases, be far more numerous,' the assessors who acted varying from See also:time to time and from See also:case to case. The Hofgericht was connected with the See also:person of the emperor; it ceased to See also:act when he was abroad; it died with his See also:death. Upon him it depended for its efficiency; and when, in the r 5th See also:century, the emperor ceased to command respect, his court lost the confidence of his subjects. The dreary reign of See also:Frederick III. administered its deathblow and after 1450 it ceased to sit. Its See also:place was taken by the Kammergericht, ' For instance, all the members of the See also:diet might serve as Urtheilsfinder in a case like the condemnation of See also:Henry the See also:Lion, See also:duke of See also:Saxony, in the 12th century.which appeared side by side with the Hofgericht from 1415, and after 1450 replaced it altogether. The See also:king (or his See also:deputy) still presided in the Kammergericht and it was still his See also:personal court; but the members of the court were now officials—the consiliarii of the imperial aula (or Kammer, whence the name of the court). It was generally the legal members of the See also:council who sat in the Kammergericht (see under AULIC COUNCIL) ; and as they were generally doctors of See also:civil See also:law, the court which they composed tended to act according to that law, and thus contributed to the " Reception " of Roman law into See also:Germany towards the end of the 15th century. The old Hofgericht had been filled, as it were, by amateurs (provided they knew some law, and were peers of the person under trial), and it had acted by old customary law; the Kammergericht, on the contrary, was composed of lawyers, and it acted by the written law of See also:Rome. Even the Kammergericht, however, See also:fell into disuse in the later years of the reign of Frederick III.; and the creation of a new and efficient court became a See also:matter of pressing See also:necessity, and was one of the most urgent of the reforms which were mooted in the reign of See also:Maximilian I. This new court was eventually created in 1495; and it See also:bore the name of Reichskammergericht, or Imperial Chamber.

It was distinguished from the old Kammergericht by the essential fact that it was not the personal court of the emperor, but the See also:

official court of the Empire (or Reich—whence its name). This See also:change was a natural result of the See also:peculiar See also:character of the See also:movement of reform which was at this time attempted by the See also:electors, under the guidance of See also:Bertold, elector of See also:Mainz. Their aim was to substitute for the old and personal council and court appointed and controlled by the emperor a new and official council, and a new and official court, appointed and controlled by the diet (or rather, in the ultimate resort, by the electors). The members of the Imperial Chamber, which was created by the diet in 1495 in See also:order to serve as such a court,' were therefore the agents of the Empire, and not of the emperor. The emperor appointed the See also:president; the Empire nominated the assessors, or See also:judges.' There were originally sixteen assessors (afterwards, as a See also:rule, eighteen) : See also:half of these were to be doctors of Roman law, while half were to be knights; but after 1555 it became necessary that the latter should be learned in Roman law, even if they had not actually taken their doctorate. Thus the Empire at last was possessed of a court, a court resting on the enactment of the diet, and not on the emperor's will; a court paid by the Empire, and not by the emperor; a court See also:resident in a fixed place (until 1693, See also:Spires, and after-wards, from 1693 to 18o6, See also:Wetzlar), and not attached to the emperor's person. The See also:original intention of the court was that it should repress private See also:war (Fehde), and maintain the public See also:peace (Landfriede). The See also:great result which in the issue it served to achieve was the final " Reception " of Roman law as the See also:common law of Germany. That the Imperial Chamber should itself administer Roman law was an inevitable result of its See also:composition; and it was equally inevitable that the composition and See also:procedure of the supreme imperial court should be imitated in the various states which composed the Empire, and that Roman law should thus become the See also:local, as it was already the central, law of the See also:land. The See also:province of the Imperial Chamber, as it came to be gradually defined by See also:statute and use, extended to breaches of the public peace, cases of arbitrary distraint or imprisonment, pleas which concerned the See also:treasury, violations of the emperor's decrees or the See also:laws passed by the diet, disputes about See also: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 See also:relating to imperial fiefs, which went to the Aulic Council). It 2 The See also:attempt to create a new and official council ultimately failed. More exactly, the emperor nominates, according to the See also:regular usage of later times, a certain number of members, partly as emperor, and partly as the' See also:sovereign of his hereditary estates; while the See also:rest, who See also:form the See also:majority, are nominated partly by the electors and partly by the six See also:ancient circles.

had also See also:

cognizance in cases of refusal to do justice; and it acted as a court of See also:appeal from territorial courts in civil and, to a small extent, in criminal cases, though it lost its competence as a court of appeal in all territories which enjoyed a privilegium de non appellando (such as, e.g. the territories of the electors). The business of the court was, however, badly done; the delay was interminable, thanks, in large measure, to the want of funds, which prevented the See also:maintenance of the proper number of judges. In all its business it suffered from the competition of the Aulic Council War); for that body, having lost all executive cornp2tence after the 16th century, had also devoted itself exclusively to judicial See also:work. Composed of the personal advisers of the emperor, the Aulic Council did justice on his behalf (the erection of a court to do justice for the Empire having See also:left the emperor still possessed of the right to do justice for himself through his consiliarii); and it may thus be said to be the descendant of the old Kammergericht. The competition between the Aulic Council and the Imperial Chamber was finally regulated by the treaty of See also:Westphalia, which laid it down that the court which first dealt with a case should alone have competence to pursue it. See R. See also:Schroder, Lehrbuch der deutschen Rechtsgeschichte (See also:Leipzig, 19o4); J. N. Harpprecht, Staatsarchiv See also:des Reichskammergerichts (1757–1785); and G. Stobbe, Reichshofgericht and Reichskammergericht (Leipzig, 1878). (E.

End of Article: IMPERIAL CHAMBER (Reichskammergericht)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
IMPEACHMENT (O. Fr. empeahement, empeschement, from... 		[next]
IMPERIAL CITIES OR TOWNS

Site © 2006 - Net Industries