The New International Encyclopædia/Pragmatic Sanction

​PRAGMATIC SANCTION (Fr. pragmatique, from Lat. pragmaticus, from Gk. πραγματικός, pragmatikos, relating to civil affairs, from πρᾶγμα, pragma, deed, from πράσσειν, prassein, to do). A solemn ordinance or decree of a sovereign dealing with matters of primal importance and regarded as constituting a part of the fundamental law of the land. The term originated in the Byzantine Empire, and signified a public and solemn decree by a prince, as distinguished from the simple rescript, which was a declaration of law in answer to a question propounded by an individual. The name is given in later European history to several important decrees, of which the principal are: (1) Those issued by the Emperor Frederick II. in 1220 and 1232 confirming certain customary rights of local authority wielded by bishops and nobles in the German Empire. (2) The Pragmatic Sanction of Louis IX. of France asserting the rights of the Gallican Church (1269), a document the authenticity of which has been doubted for a long time and now generally abandoned. (3) An ordinance of Charles VII. of France for the reformation of the Gallican Church issued in 1438 after the Council of Basel. (4) The decree of the Emperor Charles V., issued in 1547, declaring his Burgundian inheritance indivisible and the perpetual appanage of the House of Hapsburg. (5) The ordinance by which the Emperor Charles VI. (q.v.), Emperor of Germany, having no male issue, settled his dominions on his daughter, the Archduchess Maria Theresa. The decree was issued in April, 1713, as a family law of the Hapsburgs, and between 1620 and 1624 was ratified by various national diets under the Austrian Crown, becoming thereupon a part of the organic law. The act provided that in default of male issue to Charles VI., the Austrian territories, which were declared inseparable, should descend in the female line according to the law of primogeniture. To lend greater security to the act, Charles VI. sought to gain first the ratification of the great powers, and to this end Austrian policy was directed during the greater part of his reign. Among the guarantors of the sanction were Great Britain, France, Prussia, Russia, and Holland. Nevertheless, the death of the Emperor was followed by a speedy repudiation of their pledge on the part of a number of the powers, and an attack on the Austrian dominions by Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, and France, Spain entering into alliance with the last-named power. England supported Austria. The conflict is known as the War of the Austrian Succession. Consult Varenbergh, "La pragmatique sanction de Charles VI., sa garantie et son infraction," in Académie d’archéologie de Belgique, vol. xxviii. ( Antwerp, 1872). (See Charles VI.; Maria Theresa; Succession Wars; Austria-Hungary.) (6) The settlement of the succession of the Kingdom of Naples, which was ceded by Charles II. of Spain in 1759 to his third son and his descendants.

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.