A controversy arose between the English kings and the Court of Rome concerning the filling of ecclesiastical benefices by means of papal provisions "by which the Pope, suspending for the time the right of the patron, nominated of his own authority, to the vacant benefice" the papal nominee being called a provisor.
This statute enacted "that no tax imposed by any religious persons should be sent out of the country whether under the name of a rent, tallage, tribute or any kind of imposition".
2. c. 5) was passed by the Parliament of England during the reign of Richard II, who purchased various loans from foreign creditors and rulers as well as bulls from Rome in 1392.
The one, the disposal of ecclesiastical benefices, before the same became vacant, to men of the pope's own choosing; the other, the encouragement of resort to himself and his curia, rather than to the courts of the country, for legal justice.
The penalties which were attached to the offence under this statute involved the loss of all civil rights, forfeiture of lands, goods and chattels, and imprisonment during the royal pleasure.
There was some discussion as to whether the Statute of Praemunire meant that no response could be made: the compromises reached included conveying messages on a 'private' rather than 'official' level, or going via the Hanoverian minister at London (responding as King of Hanover).
[5] As of the Criminal Law Act 1967 coming into effect, praemunire facias is no longer an offence in England, Wales or Northern Ireland.
Nevertheless, in a speech at the 2018 Conservative Party Conference, during the political controversies associated with the Brexit negotiations, Boris Johnson claimed that the authors of the Chequers plan risked prosecution for Praemunire.