Benefit of Clergy

The right claimed by the Church to withdraw its members from the jurisdiction of the secular courts, to be dealt with by the ecclesiastical courts. In the dark ages “clerk” was held to cover all who could read, but with the spread of education after the Renai ance, the abuse of this definition became intolerable, and in 1532, an act was pa ed limiting the right of pleading benefit of clergy, in cases of felony, to those of the rank of sub-deacon and above.