German or European? Jülich and Berg between Imperial and Public International Law. Beiträge zur Rechtsgeschichte Österreichs|Beiträge zur Rechtsgeschichte Österreichs Band 2 / 2013 recht [durch] setzen / Making Things Legal Gesetzgebung und prozessuale Wirklichkeit in den europäischen Rechtstraditionen|

Charles VI. famously promised Prussian King Frederick William I. the succession of the duchies of Jülich and Berg in 1726, but did not keep this treaty pledge. Frederick II. did not think high of public international law, but used this as a political motive for revenge on Austria in November 1740, starting the War of the Austrian Succession. Although the Emperor benefitted from an advantageous position in Imperial law, which was essentially feudal for successions, his decisions in the 1720s were always the counterpart of a bilaterally negotiated concession by the other party, triggered by European, rather than German politics. In the light of the Utrecht and Italian examples, it can be argued that the power relations at the inter-sovereign level and the resulting political compromise created an implicit hierarchy, where vertical Imperial law was bowed and bent to fit the main players’ horizontal options