Imperial law

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In the Middle Ages, from the 13th century onwards, imperial law was the name for the German imperial laws and also for the Roman law of the Holy Roman Empire . It was based on the idea, which was pronounced in the investiture controversy, that the secular authority of the emperor was the basis of the law, but not the spiritual component of the imperial and imperial idea. The opposite of imperial law is often ecclesiastical law .

The German emperors viewed the Roman emperors as their ancestors in world domination (see also Translatio imperii ). Roman law became the model of absolute, universal rule.

The so-called Schwabenspiegel , a legal book from around 1275, has also been referred to as imperial law. In contrast to this, a smaller legal book by an unknown author from the 14th century was called the "small or lüttike Kaiserrecht" ( also called "Frankenspiegel" by the legal historian Richard Schröder ).

Furthermore, the codifications of the emperors of the principate and of late antiquity are referred to as imperial law. These include, for example, the Novellae issued by Emperor Justinian , as well as the Codex Iustinianus , also issued by Justinian , concerning still valid imperial constitutions from the time of Hadrian up to his own reign. Both are contained in the main work of Roman late antiquity, the later so-called Corpus iuris civilis .

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