Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The offense under English law of appealing to or obeying a foreign court or authority, thus challenging the supremacy of the Crown.
  • noun The writ charging this offense.
  • noun The penalty for this offense.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To bring within the penalties of a præmunire.
  • noun In English law, a species of writ, or the offense for which it is granted, or the penalty incurred.
  • noun A serious or awkward position; a predicament.
  • noun Another English statute, of 1392, designed to check the power of the Pope in England, by punishing those who procured from the papal authority any process against the king, or his crown or realm.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The offense of introducing foreign authority into England, the penalties for which were originally intended to depress the civil power of the pope in the kingdom.
  • noun The writ grounded on that offense.
  • noun The penalty ascribed for the offense of præmunire.
  • transitive verb obsolete To subject to the penalties of præmunire.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun law, historical The offence, in English law, of appealing to or obeying a foreign court or authority, especially a papal court or authority.
  • verb obsolete To subject to the penalties of praemunire.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Short for Middle English premunire facias, a writ of praemunire, from Medieval Latin praemūnīre faciās : praemūnīre, to warn (from Latin, to fortify : prae-, pre- + mūnīre, to defend; see munition) + Latin faciās, that you cause, second person sing. present subjunctive of facere, to do (words used in the writ).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Shortened form of praemunire facias.

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Examples

  • On the 26th June he was called before the council to answer certain charges, one of which was his conduct in the _praemunire_ question.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 "Austria, Lower" to "Bacon" Various

  • The clergy were informed that they lay one and all under the royal displeasure for breach of praemunire (of which they had in fact been technically guilty), and could only hope for pardon by purchasing it for something over £100,000 -- practically equivalent to about a couple of millions now.

    England under the Tudors

  • In form, the Act in Restraint of Appeals was not a fresh piece of legislation but a declaration of the existing law; a flat assertion that any appeal to the jurisdiction of Rome from the English courts brought the appellant under the penalties of praemunire, the "spiritualty" of the country being competent to deal with spiritual cases, and the sovereign recognising no jurisdiction superior to his own.

    England under the Tudors

  • The first case was an action of _praemunire_ against the court of chancery, evidently instigated by him, but brought at the instance of certain parties whose adversaries had obtained redress in the chancellor's court after the cause had been tried in the court of king's bench.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 "Austria, Lower" to "Bacon" Various

  • Standish, and declared that the Bishops had incurred the penalties of praemunire.

    England under the Tudors

  • As it had availed Wolsey nothing that his breach of praemunire had been countenanced by the King, so it availed Cromwell nothing that the King had seemed to support him.

    England under the Tudors

  • The incredible meanness of the praemunire, and consequent confiscation, which the cardinal was pronounced to have incurred for obtaining the cardinalate and legateship from Rome -- though of course this had been done with the king's full knowledge and consent

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 7: Gregory XII-Infallability 1840-1916 1913

  • At the beginning of 1531 the Convocation of Canterbury were informed that they could purchase a pardon for the praemunire they had incurred by presenting the king with the enormous sum of

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 7: Gregory XII-Infallability 1840-1916 1913

  • The first blow was struck at the clergy by involving them in Wolsey's praemunire.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 7: Gregory XII-Infallability 1840-1916 1913

  • Act was passed by which the first refusal of the oath of royal supremacy was praemunire, the second, high treason.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 2: Assizes-Browne 1840-1916 1913

Comments

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  • To my surprise the consensus is that this word is pronounced "pree-myoo-NIGH-ree." The concluding "-nire" cluster rhymes neither with "tire" nor with "ear," as I thought it might. The Brits are to blame.

    In Merry Olde the law once viewed

    The pope a risk to be eschewed.

    Now Rome seems benign

    And Islam malign.

    So everywhere the fear's renewed.

    The rhetoric is loud and fiery

    To thwart the menace in entirety.

    From France to Korea

    They're damning sharia

    And resurrecting praemunire.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ban_on_sharia_law

    November 7, 2015