benefit of clergy is the most 180 thing ever wish we had it today
| Lascivious university | 10/18/18 | | Lascivious university | 10/18/18 |
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Date: October 18th, 2018 7:02 PM Author: Lascivious university
and gave death penalty to all felons who couldn't get it together to read psalm 51 in latin
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. Various reforms limited the scope of this legal arrangement to prevent its abuse. Eventually the benefit of clergy evolved into a legal fiction in which first-time offenders could receive lesser sentences for some crimes (the so-called "clergyable" ones). The legal mechanism was abolished in 1827 with the passage of the Judgement of Death Act which gave judges the discretion to pass lesser sentences on first-time offenders.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4109927&forum_id=2#37052209)
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Date: October 18th, 2018 7:11 PM Author: Lascivious university
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benefit_of_clergy
At first, in order to plead the benefit of clergy, one had to appear before the court tonsured and otherwise wearing ecclesiastical dress. Over time, this proof of clergy-hood was replaced by a literacy test: defendants demonstrated their clerical status by reading from the Latin Bible. This opened the door to literate lay defendants also claiming the benefit of clergy. In 1351, under Edward III, this loophole was formalised in statute, and the benefit of clergy was officially extended to all who could read.[1] For example, the English dramatist Ben Jonson avoided hanging by pleading benefit of clergy in 1598 when charged with manslaughter.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4109927&forum_id=2#37052268) |
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