noun
- Plural of praemunire; writs or legal actions under the English statute of praemunire, which prohibited appeals to foreign (especially papal) authority and the introduction of foreign jurisdiction into England.
Usage: archaic; historical; legal
Examples
- The praemunires were issued to prevent the Pope's courts from interfering in English legal matters.
- Medieval English kings used praemunires to assert national sovereignty over ecclesiastical claims.
- The statute of praemunires and its resulting writs shaped the relationship between church and state in England.