praemunire

noun

1. (historical)The offence in English law of bringing suit in or obeying a foreign (especially papal) court or authority, thus challenging the supremacy of the Crown. The offence was created by the Statute of Praemunire 1393 (16 Richard II, chapter 5), and abolished by the Criminal Law Act 1967 (chapter 58).

   “Lord Cardinall, the Kings further pleaſure is, / Becauſe all thoſe things you haue done of late / By your power Legatiue within this Kingdome, / Fall into' th' compaſſe of a Premunire; / That therefore ſuch a Writ be ſued againſt you, / To forfeit all your Goods, Lands, Tenements, / Caſtles, and whatſoever, and to be / Out of the Kings protection. This is my Charge.”

   “The effect of the ſtatute of 16 R. 2 [Statute of Praemunire (16 Ric. II, chapter 5)] is, if any purſue or cauſe to be purſued in the court of Rome, or elſewhere, any thing with toucheth the king, againſt him, his crowne and regality, or his realme, their notaries, procurators, &c. fautors, &c. ſhall be out of the kings protection. […] This offence is called a premunire of the words of the writ, grounded upon this and other ſtatutes for puniſhment thereof.”

   “For I have heard of a judge, who upon the criminal's appeal to the dreadful day of judgment, told him, he had incurred a premunire, for appealing to a foreign jurisdiction; and of another in Wales, who severely checked the prisoner for offering the same plea […]”

   “Whoſoever procures from the ſee of Rome, or any foreign court, any appeals, proceſs, ſentences, &c., or refuſes to obſerve this act, ſhall incur the forfeitures, &c. of premunire, 24 H. 8, c. 12. [Ecclesiastical Appeals Act 1532 (24 Hen. VIII, chapter 12)] § 4. 10. 25 H. 8, c. 19. [Submission of the Clergy Act 1533 (25 Hen. VIII, chapter 19)] § 5. vol. 4.”

   “What haue you to shew for your selues, for I tell you, I heard some say, that for vrging subscription, you were all within the premunire, insomuch that you haue bene driuen closely to buie your pardons, you haue forfayted all that you haue vnto her Maiestie, and your persons are voyde of her Maiesties protection: you knowe the danger of a premunire, I trowe?”

2. The writ charging a person with this offence, the writ of praemunire facias.

   “Premunire lies against an ecclesiastical Judge. Where a cause originally belongs to the cognizance of the ecclesiastical Court, although all circumstances being disclosed the cognizance belongs to the King's temporal Court; yet, if the suit is prosecuted there in the same nature as the cognizance belongs to them, no Premunire lies, but a Prohibition.”

   “[…] Attacked by Missals and Common Prayer, Acts of Parliament opposed to Decrees of the Church, Mortmains in the Legates Courts, and Premunires in Westminster-Hall, Canon Law and Statutes, Oaths of Obedience to the See of Rome, and of Supremacy to the King of England, Transubstantiation, real Presence, Bulls, and Premunires, and that intricate Question of Divorces.”

   “It was no coincidence that persecution of heretics was more frequent from 1496, as prohibitions and praemunires became more common, and no coincidence that a nation-wide drive against heretics followed the Convocation of 1510.”

3. Any of a number of criminal offences incurring similar penalties to the original offence of praemunire.

   “The King's Decree touching the granting of Præmunires against any for sueing in Chancery after a Judgment at Common Law.”

4. (figuratively)Crime, offence, wrongdoing.

   “O Pride, of all heaven-relapsing praemunires the most fearful – thou that ere this had disparadised our first parent, Adam, and unrighteoused the very angels –, how shall I arm mine elocution to break through the ranks of thy hilly stumbling blocks?”

   “Then, sir, of officers and men of place, / Whose senses were so numbed they understood not Bribes from due fees, and fell on praemunires, / He has cured divers that can now distinguish / And know both when and how to take of both, / And grow most safely rich by't.”

5. The penalty for this offence.

   “Sir, this should teach us to be as tender, zealous and careful to assert Christ and his church, their privileges and rights, and to forewarn all lest they endanger their souls by encroaching thereon, and lest their omissions and remissness bring eternal premunires upon them, let all know that the spirit of your Master is upon you […]”

   “[T]o maintain in writing or printing, that any person except the natural issue of her body, is or ought to be the queen's heir or successor, subjected the person and all his abettors, for the first offence, to imprisonment during a year, and to the forfeiture of half their goods: the second offence subjected them to the penalty of a premunire.”

   “Before George Fox was brought before the judge, he had passed sentence of præmunire against Margaret Fell, for having refused to take the oath.”

   “At the Quarter Sessions in Second month [April] 1674, he was subjected to a sentence of premunire, and continued in prison.”

   “A penalty of praemunire involved imprisonment for an indefinite period, ending only with death or the King's pardon.”

6. (figuratively)A difficulty or predicament.

   “This attendance increased his uneasiness to such a degree, that he […] swore, that if once he was clear of this scrape, he would not bring himself into such a premunire again for the whole kingdom of France.”

verb

1. (historical)To charge with the offence of praemunire; to subject to the penalties of praemunire.

   “A Thief having ſtoln two Beaſts from one of thoſe called Quakers, was impriſoned: But ſome body having informed the Judge that the Man that proſecuted was a Quaker, and he (the Judge) perceiving that he would not ſwear, would not hear what the Man could ſay, but tender'd him the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, which the ſaid Quaker refuſing, the Judge premunired him, and let the thief go free.”

   “And the ſame year was impriſoned at Warwick, and præmunired for refuſing to take the oath of allegiance: where he was a priſoner in all about nineteen years (as aforeſaid) and four of them kept cloſe priſoners; but being freed by the king's declaration of indulgence, in 1672, while he had a little reſpite he travelled pretty much […]”

   “He [George Fox] then told them, there was no sentence passed upon him, neither was he præmunired, that he knew of; and therefore he was not made the king's prisoner, but was the sheriff's […]”

   “Besides in this case of our premunired friends, if the king had not re-conveyed their estates as he did, by his letters patent – under the great seal of England, – from him and his heirs, to them and their heirs, they had remained forfeited, and liable to future claims, and the proper owners to be dispossessed thereof […]”

   “C[h]ristopher Soper beinge one off yᵉ persons aforesᵈ yᵗ was sent to gaole by Justice Sawle & others as aforesᵈ & for refuseinge to swear præmunired […]”