In English history, praemunire or praemunire facias (/ˌprimjuˈnaɪri ˈfeɪʃɪəs/ or /ˌpriːmjʊˈnɪəri ˈfeɪʃɪəs/)[1] was the assertion or maintenance of papal jurisdiction, or any other foreign jurisdiction or claim of supremacy in England, against the supremacy of the monarch. The 14th-century law prohibiting this was enforced by the writ of praemunire facias, a writ of summons from which the law takes its name.
Praemunire may denote the statute, the writ, or the offence. In classical Latin, it means to fortify and also to safeguard or to uphold (munire) in advance or in preference (prae). From antiquity, munire was also connected, by mistaken etymology, with munera, "duties," "civic obligations." In medieval Latin, praemunire was confused with and used for praemonere, to forewarn, as the writ commanded that the sheriff do (facias) warn (praemunire) the summoned person to appear before the Court.[2] Another way of understanding the term, more revealing of its sense, and based on its proper meaning, is "to supply support for (munire) something instead of, sooner than or before (prae) its proper object, as someone, for instance, affording support and obedience to the papacy sooner than to the monarchy.