pragmatic sanction

American  

noun

1. any one of various imperial decrees with the effect of fundamental law.

2. (initial capital letters)

   1. any of several imperial or royal decrees limiting the power or privilege of the papacy, as the decree of Charles VII of France in 1438 or that of the Diet of Mainz in 1439.

   2. the imperial decree of Charles VI of Austria in 1713, by which his daughter, Maria Theresa, inherited his dominions.

---

pragmatic sanction British  

noun

1. an edict, decree, or ordinance issued with the force of fundamental law by a sovereign

---

Example Sentences

It was a copy of the will of the first Bonbright Foote, and the basic law, a sort of Salic law, a family pragmatic sanction for his descendants, through time and eternity.

From Youth Challenges by Kelland, Clarence Budington

St. Louis IX., in 1269, declared in a pragmatic sanction, that the temporal power of France was independent of the jurisdiction of Rome.

From Monks, Popes, and their Political Intrigues by Alberger, John

The civil state of Italy, after the agitation of a long tempest, was fixed by a pragmatic sanction, which the emperor promulgated at the request of the pope.

From History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 4 by Milman, Henry Hart

Carlyle defines "pragmatic sanction" as "the received title for ordinances of a very irrevocable nature, which a sovereign makes in affairs that belong wholly to himself, or what he reckons his own rights."

From The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 07 by Johnson, Rossiter

Charles VIII., of France, in a pragmatic sanction issued in 1433, asserted for France, in conformity with the canons of the Council of Basle, independence of Rome in all temporal matters.

From Monks, Popes, and their Political Intrigues by Alberger, John