Benefit of Clergy.

Benefit of Clergy. This expression relates to a former state of the law of England, which shows the power of the clergy and the ignorance of the people. The benefit or privilege meant little short of the total exemption of the clerical order, in respect of crimes and offences, from the jurisdiction and authority of the secular magistrate. The only exception to this was the priest being held in custody by the king himself; but even in that case, he could only remain in such regal custody with the pleasure and consent of the bishop, who had entire control over his person, and over the inquiry into his offence. If a priest or 'clerk' happened to be imprisoned by the secular arm, on a criminal charge or capital felony, he was, on the bishop's demand, to be instantly delivered up without any further inquisition; not, indeed, to be let loose upon the country, but to be detained by the ordinary, till he had either purged himself from the offence, or, having failed to do so, had been degraded. The compurgation before the church court was arranged entirely in favour of the accused. This state of things continued till the Statute of Westminster the First (1275), which provided that the prisoner must first be indicted before he could be claimed, and then in the reign of Henry VI. it was settled that the prisoner must first be convicted, and might either then claim his clergy by plea declining the jurisdiction, or, as was most usually practised, after conviction, by way of arresting judgment. The test of admission to this singular privilege was the clerical dress and tonsure—i.e. the claimant must be strictly in orders and not a mere assistant. The statute Pro Clerico (1350), however, extended it to all manner of clerks, and by later practice it was extended to all who could read, whether of the clergy or laity—a mark of great learning in those days—and therefore capable of becoming clerks. Women, however, except professed nuns, were until the Reformation excluded. But laymen could only claim it once, and upon so doing were burned on the hand, and discharged; to be again tried, however, by the bishop, whose investigation usually resulted in an acquittal, which, although the offender had been previously convicted by a jury, or perhaps on his own confession, had the effect of restoring him to his liberty, his credit, and his property. The mode in which the test of reading was applied was as follows: On conviction, the felon demanded his clergy, whereupon a book (commonly a psalter) was put into his hand, which he was required to read, when the judge demanded of the bishop's commissary, who was present, Legit ut clericus? and upon the answer to this question depended the convict's fate; if it were simply legit, the prisoner was burned on the hand, and discharged; but if non legit, he suffered the punishment due to his offence. By a series of statutes most of the serious crimes and all capital crimes had been excluded from benefit of clergy before the end of the 17th century, but it was extended to all persons convicted of clergyable offences, whether they could read or not; and instead of burning on the hand, a discretionary power was given to the judge to inflict a pecuniary fine or imprisonment. Newly-created felonies, which were numerous in the 18th century, were not entitled to the benefit. But all further attempts to modify and improve the law on this subject proving impracticable, the benefit of clergy was at last totally abolished, by the 7 and 8 Geo. IV. chap. 28; and now by the 4 and 6 Vict. chap. 22, the same is the law with regard to the peers. This privilege had never any existence or legal meaning in Scotland. See Hale's Pleas of the Crown; and Stephen's History of the Criminal Law of England, i. 459.