What is "imperial diet"

Imperial \Im*pe"ri*al\, a. [OE. emperial, OF. emperial, F. imp['e]rial, fr. L. imperialis, fr. imperium command, sovereignty, empire. See Empire.]

1. Of or pertaining to an empire, or to an emperor; as, an imperial government; imperial authority or edict.

   The last That wore the imperial diadem of Rome.
   --Shak.

2. Belonging to, or suitable to, supreme authority, or one who wields it; royal; sovereign; supreme. ``The imperial democracy of Athens.''
   --Mitford.

   Who, as Ulysses says, opinion crowns With an imperial voice.
   --Shak.

   To tame the proud, the fetter'd slave to free, These are imperial arts, and worthy thee.
   --Dryden.

   He sounds his imperial clarion along the whole line of battle.
   --E. Everett.

3. Of superior or unusual size or excellence; as, imperial paper; imperial tea, etc.

   Imperial bushel, gallon, etc. See Bushel, Gallon, etc.

   Imperial chamber, the, the sovereign court of the old German empire.

   Imperial city, under the first German empire, a city having no head but the emperor.

   Imperial diet, an assembly of all the states of the German empire.

   Imperial drill. (Manuf.) See under 8th Drill.

   Imperial eagle. (Zo["o]l.) See Eagle.

   Imperial green. See Paris green, under Green.

   Imperial guard, the royal guard instituted by Napoleon I.

   Imperial weights and measures, the standards legalized by the British Parliament.

Imperial Diet means the highest representative assembly in an empire, notably:

• Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire), general assembly of the Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire (962–1806)
• Diet of Japan, convened as the Imperial Diet under the Meiji Constitution (1889–1947)

The Imperial Diet was the Diet, or general assembly, of the Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire and emerged from the earlier informal assemblies, known as Hoftage.

During the period of the Empire, which was dissolved in 1806, the Diet was not a parliament in today's sense; instead, it was an assembly of the various estates of the realm. More precisely, it was the convention of the Imperial Estates, legal entities that, according to feudal law, had no authority above them besides the Holy Roman Emperor (or King of the Romans) himself. The deputies convened occasionally at different cities, until in 1663 the Perpetual Diet was established at the Regensburg city hall.

The Austrian Reichstag ("National Diet" or "Imperial Diet" in the German language) was the first elected parliament in the Austrian Empire. It lasted for only a short time between 1848 and 1849, but had an important effect on Austrian history.

Formed after the March Revolution of 1848, the Diet consisted of 383 deputies from the German-speaking and Slavic crown lands of the Habsburg Austria, that is, without a representative of the Kingdom of Hungary. It met for the first time on 22 July 1848 and was opened by Archduke Johann. On 22 October 1848, in the wake of the Vienna Uprising, it relocated to Kremsier and was finally dissolved on 7 March 1849. Its most important work was the abolition of the feudal system.

The concept of a Reichstag as representative body of the Austrian people turned up again in the October Diploma of 1860, but this would have required ratification by the various state legislatures of the Austrian Empire, which was not forthcoming.

After the adoption of the February Patent in 1861, another attempt was made to elect a general representative body for the people, mainly from Prime Minister Anton von Schmerling. This, too, failed due to opposition from the Hungarian and Italian, and subsequently, Czech lands of the empire. A rump parliament did serve in a temporary wooden building in the Schmerling Theater in Vienna. This Parliament was named the Reichsrat ("Imperial Council" in German), because Emperor Francis Joseph I wanted it to serve in only a consultative role. Finally a formalized Reichsrat was created in 1867 and associated with the new constitution of Austria-Hungary on an institutional basis.