Rostock Inheritance Agreement

The Rostock Inheritance Agreement (German: Rostocker Erbvertrag) describes several agreements reached by the Hanseatic city of Rostock with the dukes of Mecklenburg as landlords.

• The First Rostock Inheritance Agreement was reached in 1573 between the city of Rostock and John Albert I of Mecklenburg. Through the agreement the city recognised the duke's sovereignty.

• The Second Rostock Inheritance Agreement of 1788, agreed with Duke Frederick Francis I set aside renewed disagreements between the parties that had arisen under his predecessor, Duke Frederick of Mecklenburg and awarded special rights to the city until 1918.

The inheritance agreements should not be confused with the State Constitutional Inheritance Law (LGGEV) of 1755, which Duke Christian Louis agreed with the estates (Landständen) dominated by the knights' federation (Ritterschaft), which also included the city of Rostock. This led to a permanent involvement of the estates in the government of the state and from then on blocked constitutional development in the modern sense.