Imperial Court (Principia Moderni IV Map Game)

The Imperial Court, officially the Imperial Chamber Court (German: Reichskammergericht), is the highest judicial assembly within the Holy Roman Empire. It was founded in 1682 during that years Imperial Diet, and formally opened in 1685. All legal proceeding could be brought before the court, as privilegium de non appellando is not a recognized privilege. The only exception was criminal cases, and the court could only intervene if basic procedural rules had been violated.

History
The Holy Roman Empire was long a patchwork of varying legal systems, with often wildly different sets of laws. Despite the efforts of past emperors, this system was unable to be broken.

During the 1682 Imperial Diet, Holy Roman Emperor William sought to act on political capital gained from his election as emperor the previous year to finally reform the legal system. In a closely fought election, which saw William forced to use his tiebreaking authority, the measure was passed.

In a three year process, the court was built and based in Cologne, an effort to secure the impartiality of the court. The first cases were heard in spring of 1685.

Powers
Technically, the court does not have the power to enforce its decisions, and the Emperor must sign off on their decisions. However, Emperor William, also known as "William the Just", made a habit of not countermanding the courts decisions, thus making the court, not the emperor, effectively the highest legal voice in the empire.