Christian Cyclopedia

(Lat. pragmatica sanctio). In Roman law (Theodosian and Justinian codes), a govt. decision in a matter (Gk. pragma) involving community or pub. interest. Later, an expression of will by a sovereign defining the limits of his own power or regulating the succession. The Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges 1438 upheld the right of the Fr. Ch. to administer its temporal property and disallowed papal nominations to vacant benefices. See also Church and State, 8; Concordat, 4; France, 3; Gallicanism; Lateran Councils.