Maiestas Carolina

The Maiestas Carolina was a legal code proposed by Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1350 to govern Bohemia, and it received its name only in 1617. Based on earlier legal customs and the Liber Augustalis of 1231, it aimed to increase royal power, reserving the judging of criminal cases to the king, giving him greater control over functionaries to raise royal revenues, and including sections on forest conservation. Its 109 articles sought to secure royal property, defining 29 royal towns and 13 castles that could not be pledged. The Bohemian Diet resented the loss of its own power, and the nobility rejected the code at the General Assembly in 1355, after which Charles withdrew it and it never came into effect.