Pragmatic Sanction of St
Preserved but no longer current.
Louis, 1268, for- bade the court of Rome to levy taxes or collect subscriptions in France without the express sanction of the king. It also gave plaintiffs in the ecclesiastical courts the right to appeal to the civil courts. The "Constitutions of Claren- don" were to England what the "Pragmatic Sanction" was to France.
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 of St” mean?
Louis, 1268, for- bade the court of Rome to levy taxes or collect subscriptions in France without the express sanction of the king. It also gave plaintiffs in the ecclesiastical courts the right to appeal to the civil courts. The "Constitutions of Claren- don" were to England what the "Pragmatic Sanction" was to France.
Is “Pragmatic Sanction of St” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.