Meaning of praemunire facias | Babel Free

Definitions

More fully writ of praemunire facias: a writ directing a sheriff to forewarn a person that they 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.

England, historical

Examples

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

CEFR level