Pragmatic Sanction
Preserved but no longer current.
Sanctio iii Latin means a "decree or ordinance with a penalty attached," or, in other words, a "penal statute." Prag- maticus means "relating to state affairs/* so that Pragmatic Sanction is a penal statute bear- ing on some important question of state. The terra was first applied by the Romans to those statutes which related to their provinces.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Pragmatic Sanction” mean?
Sanctio iii Latin means a "decree or ordinance with a penalty attached," or, in other words, a "penal statute." Prag- maticus means "relating to state affairs/* so that Pragmatic Sanction is a penal statute bear- ing on some important question of state. The terra was first applied by the Romans to those statutes which related to their provinces.
Is “Pragmatic Sanction” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.