Standesherren in the German Confederation were members of those houses of the high nobility that lost their imperial immediacy and imperial status (and thus their relative sovereignty within the imperial union) after 1806 (end of the Holy Roman Empire) and 1815 (Congress of Vienna).
Article 14 of the German Federal Act of 1815 granted them a special legal status to be implemented in the provincial laws, namely membership of the high nobility, the right of equality with the sovereign houses and the continued existence of their special personal, family and property rights. In addition, they retained the right to administer civil and judicial justice, forest jurisdiction, forest police and supervision in church and school matters, over charitable foundations, as well as tax and jurisdiction privileges and exemption from military service. In the course of the 19th century, a large number of these privileges were lost, such as jurisdiction in 1848 and police rights after 1866.
