benefit of clergy
(UK, legal, historical) A legal provision by which clergymen (and, later, anybody who could read) could claim that they were outside the jurisdiction of the secular courts and be tried instead in an e
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(UK, legal, historical) A legal provision by which clergymen (and, later, anybody who could read) could claim that they were outside the jurisdiction of the secular courts and be tried instead in an ecclesiastical court under canon law.
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- privilege65%
(ecclesiastical law, now, chiefly, historical) An exemption from certain laws granted by the Pope.
- declinatory plea64%
(UK, legal, obsolete) The plea of sanctuary or of benefit of clergy, before trial or conviction.
- advocation62%
(UK, legal) The right of presenting to a vacant benefice or living in the church.
- advowson56%
(UK, ecclesiastical, _, law) The right to present a nominee to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church office.
- collation56%
(ecclesiastical) The presentation of a clergyman to a benefice by a bishop, who has it in his own gift.