La Reichskammergericht face à la Révolution liégeoise : les enjeux du conflit de juridiction dans l'affaire des jeux de Spa

Between 1785 and 1787, the ecclesiastical and imperial principality of Liège witnessed a series of legal proceedings that were fundamental to the Liège Revolution in 1789: the Spa games affair. This was above all a series of trials before the territorial and imperial courts. From a simple dispute over the practice of gambling, the trials quickly raised questions about the form of government in the principality and the powers of the prince-bishop. Brought before the Imperial Chamber of Wetzlar from the outset, the case was characterised by the holding of two simultaneous trials in Liège and Wetzlar. This dual procedure was unanimously condemned by the Empire as a breach of the perpetual peace defined at the Diet in 1495. The situation in Liège constituted a violation of the rights of the Chamber and the Emperor in judicial matters. Taking advantage of the restoration of the collections of the Imperial Chamber held at the State Archives in Liège, this article examines the trials held in Liège and Wetzlar in order to analyse the attitude adopted by the imperial justice system in the face of what appeared to be the beginnings of a large-scale insurrection.