1. Concept
The Reichsgrundgesetze (Basic Laws of the Empire) were norms that, until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, represented partial legal orders amounting in sum to what would today be called the Empire’s constitution (Imperial constitution). The term was first used in imperial law in Art. 14 of the 1636 Wahlkapitulation (electoral capitulation) of Ferdinand III. The Reichsgrundgesetze were not compiled in a cohere…