English

Noun

praemunire facias

1. (law, England, historical) More fully writ of praemunire facias: a writ directing a sheriff to forewarn a person that he or she must appear before a court to answer a criminal charge of having brought a suit in or obeyed a foreign (especially papal) court or authority, thus challenging the supremacy of the Crown; a praemunire.
   • 1820, Thomas Edlyne Tomlins, The Law-dictionary: Explaining the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the British Law; Defining and Interpreting the Terms or Words of art; and Comprising also Copious Information on the Subjects of Trade and Government, volume II, 3rd edition, London: Printed for Payne and Foss [et al.], OCLC 315102210, pages 95–96:

     It [praemunire] is named, from the words of the writ, preparatory to the prosecution thereof, "Præmunire facias A. B. – Cause A. B. to be forewarned – that he appear before us to answer the contempt wherewith he stands charged;" which contempt is particularly recited in the preamble to the writ. […] It [the Statute of Praemunire (16 Ric. II, chapter 5)] enacts, that whoever procures at Rome or elsewhere, any translations, processes, excommunications, bulls, instruments, or other things, which touch the King, against him, his Crown and Realm, shall be put out of the King's protection; their lands and goods forfeited to the King's use; and they shall be attached by their bodies to answer to the King and his Council; or process of Præmunire facias shall be made out against them as in other cases of Provisors.

   • 1832 (originally 1628), Edward Coke; Francis Hargrave and Charles Butler, editors, The First Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England; or, a Commentary Upon Littleton: Not the Name of the Author only, but of the Law itself: Revised and Corrected with Additions of Notes, References, and Proper Tables, by Francis Hargrave and Charles Butler, Esqrs. of Lincoln's Inn, including also the Notes of Lord Chief Justice Hale and Lord Chancellor Nottingham; and an Analysis of Littleton, Written by an Unknown Hand in 1658–9, volume I, 19th corrected edition, London: Printed for J. & W. T. Clarke [et al.], OCLC 60713242, pages [638] and [644]; a republication in an edited form of The First Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England. Or, a Commentarie upon Littleton, Not the Name of a Lawyer onely, but of the Law it selfe, London: Printed [by Adam Islip] for the Societe of Stationers, 1628, OCLC 84760833, book 2, chapter 11, sections 196 and 199:

     Sect. 196. Also, there are sixe manner of men, […] who, if they sue, judgement may be demanded, if they shall be answered, &c. […] Sect. 199. The fourth is a man, who by judgement given against him upon a writ of praemunire facias, &c. is out of the king's protection.

   • 1835, Thomas Stephen, The Book of the Constitution of Great Britain: Containing a Full Account of the Rise, Progress, and Present Construction of the Three Estates of the Realm, King, Lords and Commons; of the Various Courts of Jurisdiction; and of those Acts by which the Liberties or Rights of the Subjects are Affected, Glasgow: Blackie & Son, 8, East Clyde Street, and 5, South College Street, Edinburgh; W. Curry, Jun., & Co., Dublin; and Simpkin & Marshall, London, OCLC 63002787, page 80:

     In the writ for the execution of all these statutes, the words præmunire facias, being used to command a citation of the party, here denominated in common speech not only the writ, but the offence itself, of maintaining the papal power by the name of præmunire.

   • 1837, Richard Burn; Joseph Chitty; Montague B. Bere; Thomas Chitty, The Justice of the Peace and Parish Officer, volume V, 28th edition, London: S[tephen] Sweet, 1, Chancery Lane; Stevens & Sons, 39, Bell Yard, and A[lexander] Maxwell, 32, Bell Yard, Lincoln's Inn, OCLC 911903577, page 287:

     Præmunire is so called from a word in the writ, præmunire facias præfatum A.B. quod tunc sit coram nobis, &c. where præmunire is used for præmonere, to warn the person to appear […] And by the 16 Rich. II c. 5, commonly called the Statute of Præmunire, and to which the several subsequent statutes do refer, both those who pursue, or cause to be pursued, in the court of Rome, or elsewhere, any processes or instruments, or other things whatsoever, which touch the king, against him, his crown and regality, or his realm, and also those who shall bring, receive, notify, or execute them, and their faulters, and abettors, shall be out of the king's protection; and their lands, tenements, goods and chattels, forfeit to the king; and they shall be attached by their bodies, if they may be found, and brought before the king and his council, there to answer; or process shall be made against them by præmunire facias, in manner as is ordained in other statutes of provisors.

   • 2002, Ronald H. Fritze; William Baxter Robison, Historical Dictionary of Late Medieval England, 1272–1485, Westport, Ct.: Greenwood Press, ISBN 978-0-313-29124-1, page 439:

     The latter statute [Statute of Praemunire (16 Ric. II, chapter 5)] stated that any person who appealed to a court outside England, if presented with a writ of praemunire facias, was required to answer the resulting charges of contempt within two months or face penalties of outlawry and forfeiture of all lands and goods. The writ of praemunire facias had been available for some years. What the new statute did was to ensure that people making an appeal to a foreign court faced serious penalties if they ignored a writ of praemunire facias.