1. Definition and history
The Reichshofrat (Imperial Aulic Council) was a council of the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (of the German Nation), responsible for imperial fiefdoms, pardons, and legal affairs. In particular, it served alongside the Reichskammergericht as a second supreme court of law in the Empire.
The Reichshofrat was the culmination of a long process of administrative modernization at the court of the emperor covering the first half of …