benefit of clergy

American  

noun

1. the rites or sanctions of a church.

2. formal marriage.

   living together withoutbenefit of clergy.

3. the privilege claimed by church authorities to try and punish, by an ecclesiastical court, any member of the clergy accused of a serious crime. The privilege was abolished in the U.S. in 1790 and in England in 1827.

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benefit of clergy British  

noun

1. sanction by the church

   marriage without benefit of clergy

2. (in the Middle Ages) a privilege that placed the clergy outside the jurisdiction of secular courts and entitled them to trial in ecclesiastical courts

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Etymology

Origin of benefit of clergy

First recorded in 1480–90

Example Sentences

I was completely alone — without benefit of clergy — in the eerie and, at the same time, sublime Wells Cathedral in southwest England in 2016.

From Washington Post

It seems that Joseph was practicing polygamy without benefit of clergy during that time.

From Salon

Instead, a mixture of pragmatism and shrewdness kept Eliot and Lewes living together without benefit of clergy.

From The Guardian

Some of her finest moments are silent, especially when Kevin and Tiffany are in a room they shouldn’t be occupying without benefit of clergy.

From New York Times

This case is particularly interesting, because it would seem to show that “benefit of clergy” was not claimed by nuns.

From Project Gutenberg