Innsbruck had developed from a Roman castle into a town during the Middle Ages. This formal recognition of Innsbruck as a town by the sovereign brought with it a completely new system for the citizens. Market law, building law, customs law and its own jurisdiction were gradually transferred to the city. Customs law in particular was a control tool of the sovereigns. While central banks changed key interest rates, rulers had customs duties and levies at their disposal after natural disasters, epidemics, fires or wars in order to stimulate trade, consumption and the economy.

 Townspeople were no longer subject to their landlord, but to municipal jurisdiction, at least within the town walls. The popular saying "Stadtluft macht freiThe term "burgher" came from the fact that after one year in the city, one was free of all obligations to one's former landlord. Unlike unfree peasants and servants, burghers were free to dispose of their property and lifestyle as they wished. Citizens did not pay tithes, but paid taxes to the city. The city government itself could determine which group within the city had to pay which tax. The city in turn did not have to pay these taxes directly, but was free to dispose of its budget after deducting a fixed levy to the sovereign. In addition to defence, expenses included care for the sick and poor. Citizens in need could go to the "Boiling kitchen" food, if they had the right of citizenship. The city government paid particular attention to infectious diseases such as the plague.

In addition to taxes, customs duties were an important source of income for Innsbruck. Customs duties were levied at the city gate at the Inn bridge. There were two types of customs duty. The small duty was based on the number of draught animals in the wagon, the large duty on the type and quantity of goods. The customs revenue was shared between Innsbruck and Hall. Hall had the task of maintaining the Inn bridge. 

In return for their rights, every citizen had to take the oath of citizenship. This civic oath included the obligation to pay taxes and perform military service. In addition to defending the town, the citizens were also deployed outside the town. In 1406, a delegation together with mercenaries opposed an Appenzell army in defence of the Upper Inn Valley. From 1511, according to Emperor Maximilian's Landlibell, the town council was also obliged to provide a contingent of conscripts for the defence of the country. In addition to this, there were volunteers who Freifähnlein For example, during the Turkish siege of Vienna in 1529, Innsbruckers were among the city's defenders.

In the 15th century, space became tight in the rapidly growing city of Innsbruck. Citizenship became an exclusive right. Only free subjects born in wedlock were able to obtain city rights. To become a citizen, you had to either own a house or have skills in a trade in which the city's guilds were interested. The dispute over who is a "real" Innsbrucker and who is not continues to this day. The fact that migration and exchange with others have always guaranteed prosperity and made Innsbruck the liveable city it is today is often forgotten.

Due to these restrictions, Innsbruck had a completely different social composition to the neighbouring villages. Craftsmen, merchants, civil servants and servants of the court dominated the cityscape. Merchants were often travelling people, officials and court servants also came to Innsbruck for a short time as part of a prince's entourage and did not have citizenship. It was the craftsmen who exercised a large part of the political power within the citizenry. Unlike peasants, they belonged to the mobile classes in the Middle Ages and early modern period. After their apprenticeship, they went to the Walzbefore they took the master craftsman's examination and either returned home or settled in another city. Craftsmen not only transferred knowledge, they also spread cultural, social and political ideas. The craft guilds sometimes exercised their own jurisdiction alongside the municipal jurisdiction among their members. They were social structures within the city structure that had a great influence on politics. Wages, prices and social life were regulated by the guilds under the supervision of the sovereign. One could speak of an early social partnership, as the guilds also provided social security for their members in the event of illness or occupational disability. Individual trades such as locksmiths, tanners, platers, carpenters, bakers, butchers and blacksmiths each had their own guild, headed by a master craftsman.

From the 14th century, Innsbruck demonstrably had a city council, the so-called Gemainand a mayor who was elected annually by the citizens. These were not secret but public elections, which were held every year around Christmas time. In the Innsbrucker Geschichtsalmanach von 1948 findet man Aufzeichnungen über die Wahl des Jahres 1598.

The Feast of St. Erhard, i.e., January 8th, played a significant role in the lives of the citizens of Innsbruck each year. On this day, they gathered to elect the city officials, namely the mayor, city judge, public orator, and the twelve-member council. A detailed account of the election process between 1598 and 1607 is provided by a protocol preserved in the city archive: "... The ringing of the great bell summoned the council and the citizenry to the town hall, and once the honorable council and the entire community were assembled at the town hall, the honorable council first convened in the council chamber and heard the farewell of the outgoing mayor of the previous year, Augustin Tauscher."

The mayor represented the city vis-à-vis the other estates and the sovereign, who exercised overlordship over the city to a greater or lesser extent depending on the era. Each city councillor had their own clearly assigned tasks to fulfil, such as the supervision of market law, the care of the hospital and poor relief or the customs regulations, which were particularly important for Innsbruck. In all these political processes, one should always remember that Innsbruck had around 5,000 inhabitants in the 16th century, only a small proportion of whom had citizenship. The dispossessed, travellers, unemployed, servants, diplomats, employees, women and students were not entitled to vote. Voting was a privilege of the male upper class.

Contrary to popular belief, the Middle Ages were not a lawless time of arbitrariness. At both local and national level, there were codes that regulated very precisely what was permitted and what was forbidden. This could vary greatly depending on the ruler and the prevailing morals and customs. Carrying weapons, swearing, prostitution, making noise, playing music, blasphemy, children playing - anything and anyone could be targeted by the guardians of the law. If you include the rules for trade, customs duties, the exercise of professions by guilds and price fixing for all kinds of goods by the magistrate, pre-modern and early modern coexistence was no less regulated than it is today. The difference was control and enforcement power, which the authorities often lacked.

If someone was caught committing an unlawful or immoral act, there were courts that passed judgement. The medieval court days were held at the "Dingstätte" is held outdoors. The tradition of the Thing goes back to the old Germanic Thingwhere all free men gathered to dispense justice. The city council appointed a judge who was responsible for all offences that were not subject to the blood court. He was assisted by a panel of several jurors. Punishments ranged from fines to pillorying and imprisonment. The city also monitored compliance with religious order. "Heretics" and dissenters were not reprimanded by the church, but by the city government.

The penal system also included less humane methods than are common today, but torture was not used indiscriminately and arbitrarily. However, torture was also regulated as part of the procedure in particularly serious cases. Until the 17th century, suspects and criminals in Innsbruck were Kräuterturm at the south-east corner of the city wall, on what is now Herzog-Otto-Ufer. Both the trial and the serving of the sentence were public trials. The city tower was Fool's cottagea cage in which people were locked up and put on display. On the wooden Schandesel you were dragged through the town for minor offences. The pillory was located in the suburb, today's Maria-Theresien-Straße. There was no police force, but the town magistrate employed servants and town watchmen were posted at the town gates to keep the peace. It was a civic duty to help catch criminals. Vigilante justice was forbidden.

The responsibilities between municipal and manorial justice had been regulated in the Urbarbuch since 1288. The provincial court still had jurisdiction over serious offences. Crimes such as theft, murder and arson were subject to this blood law. The provincial court for all municipalities south of the Inn between Ampass and Götzens was located on the Sonnenburgwhich was located to the south above Innsbruck. In the 14th century, the Sonnenburg district court moved to the upper town square in front of the Innsbruck city tower, later to the town hall and in the early modern period to Götzens. With the centralisation of the law in the 18th century, the court moved to Götzens. Sonnenburg back to Innsbruck and was housed under different names and in different buildings such as the Leuthaus in Wilten, on the Innrain or at the Ettnau residence, known as the Malfatti Castlein the Höttinger Gasse.

From the late 15th century, Innsbruck's executioner was centralised and responsible for several courts and was based in Hall. The execution centres were located in several places over the years. For a long time, there was a gallows on a hill in today's Dreiheiligen district, right next to the main road. The Köpflplatz was located until 1731 at today's corner of Fallbachgasse / Weiherburggasse in Anpruggen. It was not uncommon for the condemned man to give his executioner a kind of tip so that he would endeavour to aim as accurately as possible in order to make the execution as painless as possible. Delinquents who were particularly harmful to the authorities and public order, such as the "heretic" Jakob Hutter or the captured leaders of the peasant uprisings of 1525 and 1526, were executed before the executioner. Goldenen Dachl executed in a manner suitable for the public. "Embarrassing" punishments such as quartering or wheeling, from the Latin word poena were not the order of the day, but could be ordered in special cases. Executions were a public demonstration of the authorities' power. It was seen as a way of cleansing society of criminals. The bodies of the executed were often left hanging as a deterrent and buried outside the consecrated area of the cemeteries.

With the centralisation of law under Maria Theresa and Joseph II in the 18th century and the General Civil Code in the 19th century under Franz I, the law passed from cities and sovereigns to the monarch and their administrative bodies at various levels. Torture was abolished. The Enlightenment had fundamentally changed the concept of law, punishment and rehabilitation. The collection of taxes was also centralised, which resulted in a great loss of importance for the local nobility and an increase in the status of the civil service. With the increasing centralisation under Maria Theresa and Joseph II, taxes and customs duties were also gradually centralised and collected by the Imperial Court Chamber. As a result, Innsbruck, like many municipalities at the time, lost a large amount of revenue, which was only partially offset by equalisation.