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

See Examples For:

pragmatic sanction

Notwithstanding the pragmatic sanction by which all the Austrian lands were to be hers, different princes deemed the occasion favorable for seizing on the whole, or on portions, of her inheritance.

From Outline of Universal History by George Park Fisher

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 Rossiter Johnson

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 Clarence Budington Kelland

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 John Alberger

He died in 1740, and within six months, when Frederick II. was on the Prussian throne, Maria Theresa claimed, in virtue of the pragmatic sanction, the lands and hereditary titles of her father Charles VI.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 8 "Germany" to "Gibson, William" by Various