BENEFPCIUM, a Latin word, lite rally "a good also "a favour," " an act of kindness." This word had seve ral technical signification among the Romans.
When a proconsul, proprietor, or qniestor returned to Rome from his province, he first gave in his accounts to the treasury ; after which he might also give in the names of such persons as had served under him in the province, and by their conduct had deserved well of the state. To do this was expressed by the phrase, " in beneficlis ad zerarium de ferre,"—" to give into the treasury the names of deserving persons r and in the case of certain officers and persons, this was to be done within thirty days after the proconsul, &c. had given in his ac counts. The object of this practice was apparently to recommend such indivi duals to public notice and attention, and in many cases it would be a kind of in troduction to future honours and emolu ments. It does not seem quite certain if money was given to those thus recom mended, in the time of Cicero. (Cicero, Ad Divers. v. 20; Pro Archia, 5.) Bene ficium, in another sense, means some honour, promotion, or exemption from certain kinds of service, granted by a Roman governor or commander to certain of his soldiers, hence called Beneficiarii. (Cesar, De Bello Civili, i. 75; iii. 88; Bneton. Tiber. 12.) Numerous inscrip tions given in Grater show how common this practice was : in some of them the title is represented by the initial letters B.F. only; Beneficiarius Legati Consularis (li. 4); B.F. Proconsulis (cxxx. 5), &c. Under the emperors, beneficia appear to have signified any kind of favours, privi leges, or emoluments granted to a subject by the emperor ; and Suetonius observes (Titus, 8) that all the Costars, in con formity with a regulation of Tiberius, considered that, on their accession to the supreme power, all the grants (beneficia) of their predecessors required confirma tion ; but Titus, by one edict, without solicitation, confirmed all grants of pre vious emperors. grants made by the emperors, which were often lands, were entered in a book called the Liber Bene ficiorum, which was kept by the chief clerk of benefices, under the care of the Comes Rerum Privatarum ofthe or it was kept by a person entitled " Commentaries Beneficioram," or clerk of the benefices, as we learn from a curious inscription in Grater (rmaxviu. 1). This inscription, which is a monumental in scription, is in memory of M. Ulpius Phasdimus, who, among other offices, held that of clerk of benefices so Trojan : the monument was erected in the reign of Hadrian, sm. 131, by Valens Phiedimi anus, probably one of the same family, who styles himself wardrobe-keeper (a veste). • Beneficium, in the civil law, signifies any particular privilege : thus it is said (Dig. i. 4. 3) that the beneficinm of the emperor must be interpreted very libe rally ; and by the Julian law De bolds Cede: die a debtor, whose estate was not sufficient to satisfy the demands of his creditors, was said to receive the benefit (beneficinm) of this law so far, that he could not be taken to prison after jut ment obtained against him. (Codex, vu.
tit. 71,8. 1. 4.) Beneficinm, among the writers of the middle ages, signified any grant of land from the films, that is, the private pos sessions of the king or sovereign, or any other person, for life ; so called, says Ducange, because it was given out of the mere good will (beneficium) and liberality of the granter. But it is evident, from what we have said, that this kind of grant was so called after the fashion of the grants of the Roman emperors. A bene ficiary grant in the middle ages appears to have been properly a grant for life, that is, a grant to the individual, and :accordingly corresponds to usufructus, and is opposed to proprietas. The name beneficium, as applied to a feudal grant, was afterwards changed for that of fen dum, and, as it is asserted, not before the sixth century ; the terms beneficium and rfendum are often used indifferently in writings which treat of feuds. [FEUD.] The English term Beneficesignifies some church living or preferment. [BENEFICE.] For further remarks on the term bene ficium, see Ducange, Glossarium, &c.; and Hotman, Comnsentarius Verborunt Juris, Opera, Lugd. fol. 1599. BENEFIT OF CLERGY. The pri vilege or exemption thus called had its .crigui in the regard which was paid by the various princes of Europe to the early Christian Church, and in the en deavours of the popes to withdraw the clergy altogether from secular jurisdic tion. In England, these attempts, being vigorously resisted by our earlier kings after the Conquest, only succeeded par tially and in two particular instances, namely, in procuring, 1. the exemption of places consecrated to religions purposes from arrests for crimes, which was the origin of sanctuaries [Sasicrusay]; and 2. the exemption of clergymen in certain cases from criminal punishment by secu lar judges. From the latter exemption came the benefit of clergy, which arose when a person indicted for certain offences pleaded that he was a clerk, or cler., and claimed his privikgiwn clericale. Upon this plea and claim the ordinary appeared and demanded him ; a jury was then summoned to inquire into the truth of the charge, and according to their ver dict the accused was delivered to the ordinary either as acquit or convict, to undergo canonical purgation, and then to be discharged or punished according to the result of the purgation. This privi lege, however, never extended to high treason nor to offences not capital, and wherein the punishment would not affect the life or limb of the offender (qua non tangunt vitas' et membrum). It is singu lar that previously to the statute 3 & 4 Will. III., which expressly includes them, this privilege of clergy never ex tended by the English law to women, although it is clear that, by the canon law, nuns were exempted from temporal jurisdiction.