Why could the Holy Roman emperor not change the wording of a Diet resolution?

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In the Holy Roman Empire, the emperor could not modify the wording of a Diet resolution because the document—known as the recess of the empire (Reichsabschied)—represented the finalized, collective agreement of the three colleges of the Diet.1

These colleges (the electoral college, the college of princes, and the college of cities) deliberated separately and combined their decisions into a single statement sent to the emperor as the "resolution of the empire" (conclusum imperii). While the emperor held the authority to ratify either the entire recess or specific parts of it, he lacked the legal power to alter the text itself. This procedural limitation reflected the broader political reality of the empire, where power was increasingly shared between the sovereign and the estates, necessitating tenacious negotiation rather than unilateral imperial control.12