RS 27

how legal actions can end accidental.61 The examined files do not show any indication of a conciliatory influence on the parties. Apparently, all but one of the initiatives for amicable settlement were taken by the litigants themselves. It shows that, in the words of Johanna Bergann, the culture of dispute and peace building are dependent [upon each other], with speech dialogue resulting in an amicable agreement within the scope of contentious proceedings.62 This, just as the vast majority of the 14 office-bearer actions examined by FlorianLehrmann,63 clearly shows that the negotiations between the parties were almost exclusively conducted out of court. The Imperial Chamber Court was mostly informed only after conclusion of the amicable correspondence through a respective notification by the procurator. Frequently, the negotiation result, i.e. the achievement of consent – for instance in the form of a settlement – was notified by submitting a full or partial copy to the files. This formed the basis for informally ending the lawsuit, for which several options were available. A judge-induced ending of a lawsuit can be substantiated only in the matter of the Cologne merchant Hochhausen. There, however, the pressure on the party seeking justice was not exercised by the assessors of the Imperial Chamber Court, who did not want to write a judgment in the matter. Rather, the lower court judges of Cologne were the ones convincingly influencing the party seeking justice. In 1583, Heinrich Hochhausen intended to initiate an appeal to the Imperial Chamber Court, after the Cologne Council dealing with the dispute in the first instance had ruled against him in a debt claim against his former fellow partner.64 However, given that Hochhausen in a personal complaint also “used quite some defamatory language” directed at the Cologne judges, the latter denied him the issue of an Epistle, which was the formal leave of 61 A few further substantiations outside the examined portfolios in Tomsch, Astrid 2014 p. 18. 62 See Bergann, Johanna in her speech on 2 October 2013 at the conference „Mit Freundschaft oder mit Recht? Inner- und außergerichtliche Alternativen zur kontroversen Streitentscheidung im 15.–19. Jahrhundert“ from 2–4 October 2013 in Wetzlar. 63 See Lehrmann, Florian in his speech on 3 October 2013 at the conference „Mit Freundschaft oder mit Recht? Inner- und außergerichtliche Alternativen zur kontroversen Streitentscheidung im 15.–19. Jahrhundert“ from 2–4 October 2013 in Wetzlar. 64 StadtA Cologne, RKG, no. 813. 92

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