praemunire noun & verb.
[as noun pri:mju:'nɪǝri; as verb -'nʌɪǝ, -'nɪǝ] LME.[Latin = fortify or protect in front, (in medieval Latin, by assoc. with praemonere: see PREMONITION) forewarn, admonish: see PREMUNITION. So called from the words praemunire facias ('that you warn') occurring in the writ.]Hist.A. noun.
1. Law (now
Hist.). A writ charging a sheriff to summon a person accused of asserting or maintaining papal jurisdiction in England (orig., one accused of prosecuting abroad a suit cognizable by English law), so denying the ecclesiastical supremacy of the monarch. Also, the statute of Richard II on which this writ was based, later applied to various actions seen as questioning or diminishing the royal jurisdiction.
LME.2. transf.a. An offence against the statute of praemunire; any offence incurring the same penalties.
M16-L17.b. The penalties, usu. forfeiture of goods or property, incurred by such an offence.
obsolete exc.
Hist. L16.3. A situation or condition resembling that of someone who has incurred a praemunire;
joc. a difficulty, a scrape, a predicament.
L16-E19.b. verb trans. Issue a writ of praemunire against; convict of offending against the statute of praemunire. Now
rare.
L17. [TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲