# benefit of clergy

> in English law, originally a provision by which clergymen were outside the jurisdiction of secular courts; later, a legal fiction through which first-time offenders receive lesser sentences for some crimes

**Wikidata**: [Q4887448](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4887448)  
**Wikipedia**: [English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benefit_of_clergy)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/benefit-of-clergy