benefit of clergy
- noun
- /ˈbɛnɪfɪt əv ˈklɜrɡi/
- Archaic
:
beneficio del clero
- During the trial, the judge explained that the defendant was punished severely for committing the crime without benefit of clergy.
Examples
-
In the Bank of North America's charter, the Continental Congress explicitly recommended that states create laws "making it a felony without benefit of clergy for any person to counterfeit bank notes or to pass such notes, knowing them to be counterfeit."
Academic text (2016) -
Their marriage ceremony took place without the benefit of clergy at a local park.
-
I have been put right without benefit of clergy.
Fiction book (1996) -
In medieval times, a clergyman could seek benefit of clergy to escape harsh sentences for minor offenses.
Antonyms
720
1.3
An action that makes someone suffer for breaking a rule, like a fine or time in prison
Surface Forms
Morphology
Although literally composed of 'benefit' (advantage) + 'of' + 'clergy' (church officials) which might suggest 'an advantage for clergy', the phrase is a historical-legal term referring to a specific jurisdictional exemption or ecclesiastical sanction. This specialized, archaic legal meaning is not predictable from the constituent words and would not be inferred by a B1 learner who hadn't encountered the term before.
Etymology
Benefit of clergy comes from a long time ago when church leaders had special legal rights: if someone was of the clergy, they could be tried by church courts instead of regular courts. That's why the expression later came to mean a 'legal privilege' and, in marriage cases, the 'permission' given by a church ceremony.