Clergy

1. The body of men set apart, by due ordination, to the service of God, in the Christian church, in distinction from the laity; in England, usually restricted to the ministers of the Established Church.
2. Learning; also, a learned profession.
3. The privilege or benefit of clergy.
Benefit of clergy (Eng., Law),
the exemption of the persons of clergymen from criminal process before a secular judge -- a privilege which was extended to all who could read, such persons being, in the eye of the law, clerici, or clerks. This privilege was abridged and modified by various statutes, and finally abolished in the reign of George IV. (1827).
Regular clergy, Secular clergy
See Regular, n., and Secular, a.