benefit of clergy


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Related to benefit of clergy: Privilegium clericale

benefit of clergy

n.
1. The authorized sanction of a religious rite: cohabiting without benefit of clergy.
2. Exemption from trial or punishment in a civil court, given to the clergy in the Middle Ages.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

benefit of clergy

n
1. sanction by the church: marriage without benefit of clergy.
2. (Historical Terms) (in the Middle Ages) a privilege that placed the clergy outside the jurisdiction of secular courts and entitled them to trial in ecclesiastical courts
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ben′efit of cler′gy


n.
1. the rites or sanctions of a church: living together without benefit of clergy.
2. the medieval privilege of clerics to be tried by ecclesiastic rather than secular courts.
[1480–90]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.benefit of clergy - sanction by a religious ritebenefit of clergy - sanction by a religious rite; "they are living together without benefit of clergy"
sanction - the act of final authorization; "it had the sanction of the church"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
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References in classic literature ?
I'd inform if he were my own son: and it's felony without benefit of clergy!'
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At about the same time the burly Jonson killed another actor in a duel and escaped capital punishment only through 'benefit of clergy' (the exemption still allowed to educated men).
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At her own home, both at Southdown and at Trottermore Castle, this tall and awful missionary of the truth rode about the country in her barouche with outriders, launched packets of tracts among the cottagers and tenants, and would order Gaffer Jones to be converted, as she would order Goody Hicks to take a James's powder, without appeal, resistance, or benefit of clergy. My Lord Southdown, her late husband, an epileptic and simple-minded nobleman, was in the habit of approving of everything which his Matilda did and thought.
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Critique: Exceptionally well written, organized and presented for the benefit of clergy, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject, "Romans Disarmed: Resisting Empire, Demanding Justice" is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended study of Paul's Letters to the Romans for all members of the Christian community.
Romans Disarmed
Her topics are by benefit of clergy: authority, witnessing politics: the depictive element, revelations: naturalizing hierarchies, the American Eden: mythic elements, and making a city on a hill: national politics.
Political Vocabularies: FDR, the Clergy Letters, and the Elements of Political Argument
Charles II, the so-called Merry Monarch, bothered not at all about affairs of state, being more interested in the other kind, fathering some 17 illegitimate children plus dallying with many more young ladies--all without the benefit of clergy, I might add disapprovingly.
Stop the Reign ana Down with the Crown
(4) "Benefit of clergy" originally allowed clergy to claim they were outside the jurisdiction of the secular courts and thus should be tried by the (usually) more lenient ecclesiastical courts.
Religious exemptions, third-party harms, and the establishment clause
Thanking the Almighty One for the brotherly reunion affected between Pope Francis and the patriarch of Moscow Cyril in Havana, Rahi aspired for an honoring of the agreement reached by both spiritual leaders to the benefit of clergy and laity alike.
Rahi: Deputies commit a cardinal sin
In 1827 benefit of clergy was abolished but at the same time executions became a rarity.
At the crossroads of history; Berwick is preparing for a blood-stirring annual lecture on the subject of the town's turbulent history in the middle ages - a time when the town changed hands between the English and Scots a total of 13 times. Once the principal port of Medieval Scotland, it was beseiged, stormed, sacked and burned. Here Dr Richard Moore explains all in the secpond part of his special report

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