premunire facias

Noun

praemunire facias

1. (England, historical) More fully writ of praemunire facias: a writ directing a sheriff to forewarn a person that they must appear before a court to answer a criminal charge of having brought a suit in or obeyed a foreign (especially papal) court or authority, thus challenging the supremacy of the Crown; a praemunire.
   • It [praemunire] is named, from the words of the writ, preparatory to the prosecution thereof, "Præmunire facias A. B. – Cause A. B. to be forewarned – that he appear before us to answer the contempt wherewith he stands charged;" which contempt is particularly recited in the preamble to the writ....1820, Thomas Edlyne Tomlins, The Law-dictionary: Explaining the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the British Law; Defining and Interpreting the Terms or Words of art; and Comprising also Copious...