Definition of "praemunire" []

• The offense under English law of appealing to or obeying a foreign court or authority, thus challenging the supremacy of the Crown. (noun)
• The writ charging this offense. (noun)
• The penalty for this offense. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The first case was an action of _praemunire_ against the court of chancery, evidently instigated by him, but brought at the instance of certain parties whose adversaries had obtained redress in the chancellor's court after the cause had been tried in the court of king's bench."
• "On the 26th June he was called before the council to answer certain charges, one of which was his conduct in the _praemunire_ question."
• "As it had availed Wolsey nothing that his breach of praemunire had been countenanced by the King, so it availed Cromwell nothing that the King had seemed to support him."