ARTICLE: Antoine LECLÈRE, "La Reichskammergericht face à la Révolution liégeoise : les enjeux du conflit de juridiction dans l’affaire des jeux de Spa (1785-1787)", Revue du Nord n° 449 (2024/2), 307-335
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Abstract:
Between 1785 and 1787, the ecclesiastical and imperial Principality of Liège witnessed a series of legal proceedings that were fundamental to the Liège revolution that followed in 1789 : l’affaire des jeux de Spa. This was above all an accumulation of trials before the territorial and imperial courts. From a simple quarrel over the practice of gambling, the trials quickly questioned the form of government of the Principality and the powers of the prince-bishop. The case was brought before the Imperial Chamber of Wetzlar (Reichskammergericht) from the outset and was characterised by two simultaneous trials in Liege and Wetzlar. This double procedure was unanimously condemned by the Empire, whose mission was to safeguard the perpetual peace defined at the Diet of 1495. The situation in Liège was therefore a clear infringement of the rights of the Chamber and the Emperor. Taking advantage of the restoration of the Imperial Chamber's collections held in the State Archives in Liège, this article examines the trials held in Liège and Wetzlar in order to point out the attitude adopted by the imperial justice system in the face of what seemed to be the beginnings of a large-scale insurrection.
Read the article here.
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