PRAEMUNIRE, in English law an offence so called from the introductory words of the writ of summons issued to the defend ant to answer the charge, "Praemunire facias A.B.," etc., i.e., "cause A.B. to be forewarned." From this the word came to be used to denote the offences, usually ecclesiastical, prosecuted by means of such a writ, and also the penalties they incurred. From the beginning of the 14th century papal aggression had been particularly active, more especially in two forms. The one, the disposal of ecclesiastical benefices, before the same became vacant, to men of the pope's own choosing; the other, the encour agement of resort to himself and his curia rather than to the courts of the country. The Statute of Provisors (1306), passed in the reign of Edward I., was, according to Coke, the foundation of all subsequent statutes of praemunire. This statute enacted "that no tax imposed by any religious persons should be sent out of the country whether under the name of rent, tallage, tribute or any kind of imposition." A much greater check on the freedom of action of the popes was imposed by the Statute of Provisors (1350-51) and the Statute of Praemunire passed in the reign of Edward III. The former ordained the free election of all digni ties and benefices elective in the manner as they were granted by the king's progenitors. The Statute of Praemunire (the first stat
ute so called), 1353, enacts "that all the people of the king's lige ance of what condition that they be, which shall draw any out of the realm in plea" or any matter of which the cognizance properly belongs to the king's court shall be allowed two months in which to answer for their contempt of the king's rights in transferring their pleas abroad. Many other statutes followed that of 1353, but that passed in the 16th year of Richard II.'s reign is usually referred to as the Statute of Praemunire. The Royal Marriages Act, 1772, is the last which subjects anyone to the penalties of a praemunire. A peer charged with praemunire is not entitled to trial by his peers, but is to be tried by a jury. The most famous historical instance of a prosecution of the Statute of Praemunire was that of Cardinal Wolsey in 1529.