Reichskammergericht

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. The Reichskammergericht was infamous for the long time it took to reach a conviction. 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. Yet lately it has been argued that this can 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.