[2] Since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the Holy Roman Emperor had been formally bound to accept all decisions made by the Diet.The Emperor was represented by a Principal Commissioner (Prinzipalkommissar), a position that accrued to the Thurn und Taxis family from 1748.[2] However, by the middle of the 18th century, it was largely "dysfunctional"[6] and a "mere congress of diplomats"[5] that produced "no important legislation in political and constitutional matters".[5] The weak institution has been called "a bladeless knife without a handle",[7] and, during the Diet's existence, the Empire increasingly became nothing more than a collection of largely independent states.[8] Following the approval of that final constitutional document, the Diet never met again and its existence ended with the dissolution of the Empire in 1806.