Wednesday, April 24, 2013

"benefit of clergy" and "clergyable crimes"

Wiki of "benefit of clergy":
In English law, the benefit of clergy (Law Latin Privilegium clericale) was originally a provision by which clergymen could claim that they were outside the jurisdiction of the secular courts and be tried instead in an ecclesiastical court under canon law. Eventually, the course of history transformed it into a mechanism by which first-time offenders could receive a more lenient sentence for some lesser crimes (the so-called "clergyable" ones).  continued

No comments:

Post a Comment

Hey, thanks for engaging the conversation!