PRIVILEGE (Lat. privil(ginnt, prerogative, from prints. one's own hi% law). In law, a benefit or immunity growing out of some special rule of law or statute by virtue of which an individual or a class enjoys cer tain immunities or rights distinct from or beyond the provisions of law generally appli cable to the conumnity. It differs from a dispensation inasmuch as the latter merely re laxes the existing law for a particular case or cases, while the privilege is a permanent and general right. Of ancient and medieval legislation the law of privilege formed an im portant branch, the so-called privileged classes being governed by a substantially different body of law from the other classes of society. In early law there were two privileges enjoyed by the clergy which deserve special notice from the frequency of the historical allusions to them— the 'privilege of the canon' (privileginnt eanonis) and the 'privilege of the forum' (privi/egium fori). By the former the person of the clergy man. of whatever degree, was protected from violence by the penalty of excommunication against the offender; by the latter—known in England as 'benefit of clergy' (q.v.)—the clergy man upon claiming his privilege was exempted from trial by the ordinary civil tribunals, and could only he tried in the ecclesiastical court.
Early English statutes placed limitations upon this latter privilege, and it was finally com pletely abolished. (See BENEFIT OF CLERGY.) In modern law there is scarcely any trace of the various forms of class legislation which charac terized the Middle Ages. and in most. if not all, of the States, class legislation is restricted by their respective constitutions. Privileges in the legal sense so far as they exist at all in modern law rest upon grounds of public policy, and in certain eases in the United States are sanctioned and protected by provisions of the State and Fed eral Constitutions.
Some forms of privilege have been considered in connection with other topics. in the law of which they constitute an essential part. Thus for a discussion of privileges of witnesses. that is, the circumstances under which witnesses are privileged from giving testimony, see EVIDENCE; WITNESS. For a discussion of the privilege which exempts one from liability for libel and slander, see LIBEL. See also and for the special privileges accorded to ambassadors and diplomatic agents by international law, see those topics respectively.