imperial control of the aulic council Schreiben um Bericht (requests for report), Instructiones or Inhibitiones.13 This regulation would certainly not have been necessary if there had not been acause.As the recently discovered documents of theRHRshow,14 it was in fact the case that the emperor and the RHRhad tried to influence the RKG, especially in the early years of its existence.15 This applied above all to the fiscal proceedings at the RKG. A typical case was that of the dispute over the imperial immediacy of Hamburg, which went on for nearly 400 years.16 When the RKGfollowed the motion of the Reichsfiskals (a type of imperial financial officer/minister) to sentence the city for outstanding imperial taxes on July 6 1618, and no payment followed, theRHRinstructed theRKGto initiate enforcement orders against Hamburg.17 TheRHRalso intervened if debtors turned to it after having been sentenced by theRKGto punitive payments following proposals by theReichsfiskal to seek a deferral either of payment or enforcement.18 TheRKGaccepted such interventions, as theReichsfiskal and his practices were directly subordinate to the emperor and the council.19 But in certain cases, the RHRalso attempted to intervene in non-fiscal proceedings, for example in 1562 when he instructed the RKGto accept a lawsuit filed by the mayor and city council of the city of Cologne,20 or a case in 1652 to suspend the enforcement of a verdict.21 13 Wahlkapitulation Karls VII art. XVI 8 §. An equivalent ban was later included in the electoral capitulations of Josef II and Leopold II, probably influenced by the present case; for this, see Crome, August Friedrich Wilhelm 1791 p. 127; also Pfeiffer, Burkhard Wilhelm 1831 p. 257 f. 14 Supra fn. 6. 15 Ehrenpreis, Stefan 1997 pp. 187-205 (p. 195 f.) called this early periodjudicial power against the Reichskammergericht. 16 Sellert, Wolfgang 2016 pp. 105-126. 17 Ibid. 18 SeeAPAvol. 2 no. 1183 and 1091; APAvol. 3 no. 2200, 3240 and 3312; APAvol. 5 no. 5449, 5507 and 6027; Antiqua vol. 2 no. 437 and 376. In some cases theRHRrestricted itself to present its votum ad imperatorem – probably sanctioned by the emperor or Privy Council – to the RKGor the Reichsfiskal; see APAvol. 2 no. 1255 and 1270. 19 This custom did not change when Rudolf II introduced a Fiskal at the RHR(Reichshoffiskal) and this developed into a busy activity; for this see Obersteiner, Gernot Peter 2003 pp. 89-164. 20 APAvol. 3 no. 2414. 21 Antiqua vol. 2 no. 289. 60
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