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Pragmatic sanction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A pragmatic sanction is a sovereign's solemn decree on a matter of primary importance and has the force of fundamental law. In the late history of the Holy Roman Empire it referred ...
pragmatic sanction - Definitions from Dictionary.com
Definitions of pragmatic sanction at Dictionary.com. ... 1. any one of various imperial decrees with the effect of fundamental law.
pragmatic - Definitions from Dictionary.com
Definitions of pragmatic at Dictionary.com. ... 4. treating historical phenomena with special reference to their causes, antecedent conditions, and results.

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Pragmatic Sanction

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Pragmatic Sanction, solemn ordinance or decree of a head of state, relating to a matter of primary importance and having the force of fundamental law. Pragmatic sanctions have included the instrument that limited (1438) papal authority in France; and the ordinance by which Charles VI, Holy Roman emperor, decreed (1713) that if he died without a male heir his eldest daughter, Maria Theresa, later archduchess of Austria and queen of Hungary and Bohemia, would inherit the Habsburg dominions.