benefit of clergy

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

ben′efit of cler′gy, 

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.
• 1480–90

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

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