BENEFIT OF CLERGY

The privilegium clericale , or, in common speech, the benefit of the clergy, had its origin from the pious regard paid by Christian princes to the Church of Christ . The exemptions which they granted to the Church were principally of two kinds: 1. Exemption of places consecrated to religious offices from criminal arrests, which was the foundation of sanctuaries. (See Sanctuary , Asylum .) 2. Exemptions of the persons of the clergy from criminal proce before the secular magistrate in a few particular cases, which was the true origin and meaning of the privilegium clericale . Originally the law was held that no man should be admitted to the privilege of the clergy but such as had the habitum et tonsuram clericalem . But, in proce of time, a much wider and more comprehensive criterion was established, every one that could read being accounted a clerk or cleric us, and allowed the benefit of clerkship, whether in holy orders or not.