Praemunire

For I have heard of a judge, who upon the criminal's appeal to the dreadful day of judgment, told him, he had incurred a premunire, for appealing to a foreign jurisdiction; and of another in Wales, who severely checked the prisoner for offering the same plea […]

Lord Cardinall, the Kings further pleaſure is, / Becauſe all thoſe things you haue done of late / By your power Legatiue within this Kingdome, / Fall into' th' compaſſe of a Premunire; / That therefore ſuch a Writ be ſued againſt you, / To forfeit all your Goods, Lands, Tenements, / Caſtles, and whatſoever, and to be / Out of the Kings protection. This is my Charge.

The effect of the ſtatute of 16 R. 2 [Statute of Praemunire (16 Ric. II, chapter 5)] is, if any purſue or cauſe to be purſued in the court of Rome, or elſewhere, any thing with toucheth the king, againſt him, his crowne and regality, or his realme, their notaries, procurators, &c. fautors, &c. ſhall be out of the kings protection. […] This offence is called a premunire of the words of the writ, grounded upon this and other ſtatutes for puniſhment thereof.

Whoſoever procures from the ſee of Rome, or any foreign court, any appeals, proceſs, ſentences, &c., or refuſes to obſerve this act, ſhall incur the forfeitures, &c. of premunire, 24 H. 8, c. 12. [Ecclesiastical Appeals Act 1532 (24 Hen. VIII, chapter 12)] § 4. 10. 25 H. 8, c. 19. [Submission of the Clergy Act 1533 (25 Hen. VIII, chapter 19)] § 5. vol. 4.

What haue you to shew for your selues, for I tell you, I heard some say, that for vrging subscription, you were all within the premunire, insomuch that you haue bene driuen closely to buie your pardons, you haue forfayted all that you haue vnto her Maiestie, and your persons are voyde of her Maiesties protection: you knowe the danger of a premunire, I trowe?

These penalties were first imposed by the stat. 16 Rich. II. c. 5 (commonly called the Statute of Præmunire); and it is by reference to that statute that all subsequent præmunires have been made punishable.

After cornering and ruining two bishops in the conflict, and as a part of a more general restructuring of government after the Black Death, Edward III restored the fortunes of those two bishops and instituted premunire as a more regularized procedure for crushing future opposition.

William, angry that he had been forced to answer in an ecclesiastical court outside the realm of England, filed a suit of premunire against Richard Tylhe in the court of the king's bench during the Easter term of 1380, claiming £1,000 in damages. The statutes of premunire prohibited any Englishman from bringing suit in an ecclesiastical court if the cognizance, or jurisdiction, belonged to the king's courts.