BENEFICIUM, a Latin word, lite- | of their predecessors required confirmarally “a good deed;" also "a favour," "antion; but Titus, by one edict, without act of kindness." This word had seve- solicitation, confirmed all grants of preral technical significations among the vious emperors. The grants made by the Romans. emperors, which were often lands, were entered in a book called the Liber Beneficiorum, which was kept by the chief clerk of benefices, under the care of the Comes Rerum Privatarum of the emperor; or it was kept by a person entitled "A Commentariis Beneficiorum," or clerk of the benefices, as we learn from a curious inscription in Gruter (DLXXVIII. 1). This inscription, which is a monumental inscription, is in memory of M. Ulpius Phædimus, who, among other offices, held that of clerk of benefices to Trajan: the monument was erected in the reign of Hadrian, A.D. 131, by Valens Phædimianus, probably one of the same family, who styles himself wardrobe-keeper (a veste).

When a proconsul, proprætor, or quæstor 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 beneficiis ad ærarium deferre,"-"to give into the treasury the names of deserving persons;" 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 accounts. The object of this practice was apparently to recommend such individuals to public notice and attention, and in many cases it would be a kind of introduction to future honours and emoluments. It does not seem quite certain if | money was given to those thus recommended, in the time of Cicero. (Cicero, Ad Divers. v. 20; Pro Archia, 5.) Beneficium, in another sense, means honour, promotion, or exemption from certain kinds of service, granted by a Roman governor or commander to certain of his soldiers, hence called Beneficiarii. (Cæsar, De Bello Civili, i. 75; iii. 88; Sueton. Tiber. 12.) Numerous inscriptions given in Gruter 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, privileges, or emoluments granted to a subject by the emperor; and Suetonius observes (Titus, 8) that all the Cæsars, in conformity with a regulation of Tiberius, considered that, on their accession to the supreme power, all the grants (beneficia) |

some

Beneficium, in the civil law, signifies any particular privilege: thus it is said (Dig. i. 4. 3) that the beneficium of the emperor must be interpreted very liberally; and by the Julian law De bonis Cedendis a debtor, whose estate was not sufficient to satisfy the demands of his creditors, was said to receive the benefit (beneficium) of this law so far, that he could not be taken to prison after judgment obtained against him. (Codex, vii. tit. 71, s. 1. 4.)

Beneficium, among the writers of the middle ages, signified any grant of land from the fiscus, that is, the private possessions 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 beneficiary grant in the middle ages appears to have been properly a grant for life, that is, a grant to the individual, and

Where the impropriation or appropriation of the great tithes is shared between owners of different classes, it is included under each class.

There are some few cases of rectories in which the rector has only a portion of the great tithes, the remainder being the property of a spiritual person or body, or of a lay impropriator; and in Jersey and Guernsey the benefices are merely nominal rectories, the incumbent not being entitled in any case to more than a portion (generally one-third) of the great tithes, the Crown or governor taking the residue; and in some cases the whole goes to the Crown or governor.

accordingly corresponds to usufructus, | law, nuns were exempted from temporal and is opposed to proprietas. The name jurisdiction. beneficium, as applied to a feudal grant, was afterwards changed for that of feudum, and, as it is asserted, not before the sixth century; the terms beneficium and feudum are often used indifferently in writings which treat of feuds. [FEUD.] The English term Benefice signifies some church living or preferment. [BENEFICE.] For further remarks on the term beneficium, see Ducange, Glossarium, &c.; and Hotman, Commentarius Verborum Juris, Opera, Lugd. fol. 1599.

to be delivered to the archdeacon on behalf of the ordinary, but the archdeacon refused to take him, alleging that the prisoner was not a clerk. This raised a serious difficulty; and the question was one of particular importance to the prisoner, as the judges deliberated whether he must not of necessity be hanged. He was, however, remanded to prison, and the subject was much discussed by the judges for several terms; but, luckily for the culprit, the conscientious archdeacon being removed, his successor heard the prisoner read, and consented to receive him; whereupon he was delivered to the ordinary, the judges saying "that in favorem vitæ et libertatis ecclesiæ, even where a man had once failed to read, and had received sentence of death, they would allow him his benefit of clergy, under the gallows, if he could then read, and was received by the ordinary." Another case is recorded in the 21st year of Edw. IV. (1481), in which a felon read well and audibly in the presence of the whole court; but the ordinary declared "non legit ut clericus for divers considerations." Upon which judgment was given that he should be hanged; "And so," says the reporter, "he was ut audivi." (Year Book, 21 Edw. IV. 21.) But though a felon might claim the benefit of clergy to the last moment of his life, it was an indictable offence to teach him to read for the purpose of saving him. Thus in the 7th Richard II. (1383), the vicar of Round Church in Canterbury was arraigned and tried, "for that by the licence of the jailer there, he had instructed in reading one William Gore, an approver, who at the time of his apprehension was unlearned (ineruditus in lecturâ)." (Dyer's Reports, p. 206.) It may readily be conceived that questions between the temporal courts and the ordinary would arise as the art of reading became more generally diffused; and it was probably on this account that an express provision was made by the legislature in order in some degree to obviate the occurrence of such difficulties. The statute 4 Henry VII. The practice of calling upon a conc. 13 (1488), revived the distinction be-victed person to read in order to prove to tween actual clergymen and such persons the court his title to the benefit of clergy as had accidentally acquired a competent continued until a comparatively late skill in reading, by providing that no per- period. A case is mentioned in Kelynge's

son once admitted to the benefit of clergy should a second time be allowed the same privilege, unless he produced his orders; and to mark those who had once claimed the privilege, the statute enacted that all persons, not in orders, to whom it was so allowed, should be marked upon the "brawn of the left thumb" in the court, before the judge, before such person was delivered to the ordinary. After the offender was thus burned in the hand, he was formally delivered to the ordinary, to be dealt with according to the ecclesiastical canons, and to make purgation by undergoing the farce of a canonical trial. This second trial took place before the bishop or his deputy: there was a jury of twelve persons, who gave their verdict on oath; witnesses were examined on oath; the prisoner answered on oath; and twelve compurgators swore that they believed him. On this occasion, though the prisoner had been convicted at common law by the clearest evidence, or had even confessed his guilt, he was almost invariably acquitted. The whole proceeding before the ordinary is characterised by Chief Justice Hobart, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, "as turning the solemn trial of truth by oath into a ceremonious and formal lie." (Hobart's Reports, p. 291.) To remove this discre ditable abuse of the forms of justice, the statute 18 Eliz. c. 7, enacted that in all cases after an offender had been allowed his clergy, he should not be delivered to the ordinary, but be at once discharged by the court, with a provision that he might be detained in prison for any time not exceeding a year, at the discretion of the judge before whom he was tried.

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By various statutes passed in the course of the last century, the court before which an offender was tried and admitted to his clergy were empowered to commute the burning in the hand for transportation, imprisonment, or whipping; and subsequently to the passing of these statutes it is believed that no instance has occurred of a convict being burned in the hand.

Reports, p. 51, which occurred in 1666, | benevolences were declared to be illegal; where the bishop's commissary had de- but this statute is so expressed as not ceived the court by reporting, contrary to clearly to forbid the solicitation of volunthe fact, that a prisoner could read; upon tary gifts, and Richard himself afterwards which Chief Justice Kelynge rebuked violated its provisions. Henry VII. exhim severely, telling him "that he had acted benevolences, which were enforced unpreached more that day than he could in a very oppressive way. Archbishop preach up again in many days," and fined Morton, who solicited merchants and him five marks. At length the statute of others to contribute, employed a piece of the 5th of Anne, c. 6, enacted that the logic which obtained the name of "Morbenefit of clergy should be granted to all ton's fork." He told those who lived those who are entitled to it without re- handsomely, that their opulence was quiring them to read; and thus the "idle manifested by their expenditure; and ceremony of reading," as Mr. Justice those who lived economically, that their Foster justly terms it, was finally frugality must have made them rich: so abolished. that no class could evade him. Cardinal Wolsey, among some other daring projects to raise money for Henry VIII., proposed a benevolence, which the citizens of London objected to, alleging the statute of Richard III.; but the answer was, that the act of an usurper could not oblige a lawful sovereign. Elizabeth also "sent out her privy seals," for so the circulars demanding a benevolence were termed; but though individuals were committed to prison for refusing to contribute, she repaid the sums exacted. Lord Coke, in the reign of James I., is said to have at first declared that the king could rot solicit a benevolence, and then to have retracted his opinion, and pronounced upon its legality.

The absurd and perplexing distinctions which the continuance of this antiquated and worn-out clerical privilege had introduced, having become extremely detrimental to the due administration of justice, it was enacted by one the recent statutes for the consolidation and improvement of the criminal law, commonly called Peel's Acts (namely, 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 28, § 6, for England, and 9 Geo. IV. c. 54, § 12, for Ireland), that benefit of clergy with respects to persons convicted of felony shall be abolished. Since the passing of this statute, the subject is of no practical importance whatever; but those who may be inclined to pursue it as a matter of historical curiosity may find the following references useful:-Blackstone's Commentaries, vol. iv. chap. 28: Hale's Pleas of the Crown, part ii. c. 45; Barrington's Observations on Ancient Statutes; Hobart's Reports, p. 288.

BENEVOLENCE, a species of forced loan or gratuity, and one of the various arbitrary modes of obtaining supplies of money, which, in violation of Magna Charta, were formerly resorted to by the kings of England. The name implies a free contribution, with or without the condition of repayment; but so early as the reign of Edward IV. the practice had grown into an intolerable grievance. That king's lavish liberality and extravagance induced him to levy benevolences very frequently; and one of the wisest and most popular acts of his successor, Richard III., was to procure the passing of a statute (cap. 2) in the only parliament assembled during his reign, by which

The subject underwent a searching investigation during the reign of Charles I., as connected with the limitation of the king's prerogative. That king had appointed commissioners for the collection of a general loan from every individual, and they had private instructions to require not less than a certain proportion of each man's property in land or goods, and had extraordinary powers given them. The name of loan given to this tax was a fiction which the most ignorant could not but detect. Many of the common people were impressed to serve in the navy for refusing to pay; and a number of the gentry were imprisoned. The detention of five knights, who sued the Court of King's Bench for their writ of Habeas Corpus, gave rise to a most important question respecting the freedom of English subjects from arbitrary arrest, and out of the discussion which then arose, and the

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