benefit of clergy

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.

benefit of clergy

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of benefit of clergy¹

First recorded in 1480–90