In English law. The name of an offense against the king and hls government, though not subject to capital punishment. So called from the words of the writ which issued preparatory to the prosecution: “Pra’tnunirc facias .4. B. quod sit coram nobis” etc.; “Cause A. B. to be forewarned that he appear before us to an-swer the contempt with which lie stands charged.” The statutes establishing this offeuse. the first of which was made in the thirty-first year of the reign of Edward I., were framed to encounter the papal usurpa-tiona in England; the original meaning of
Source: Black’s Law Dictionary 2nd Ed (1910)
