OLE 



ULE 



ed of, as in old age, sickness, or other in- 

 firmities. 



The privileges of the English clergy, 

 by the ancient statutes, are very consid- 

 erable ; their goods are to pay no toll in 

 fairs or markets ; they are exempt from 

 all offices but their own ; from the king's 

 carriages, posts, &c. ; from appearing at 

 sheriff's tourns, or frank pledges ; and 

 are not to be fined or amerced according 

 to their spiritual, but their temporal, 

 means. A clergyman acknowledging a 

 statute, his body is not to be imprisoned. 

 If he be convicted of a crime, for which 

 the benefit of clergy is allowed, he 

 shall not be burnt in the hand ; and he 

 shall have the benefit of the clergy in in- 

 Jtnitum, which no layman can have more 

 than once. 



The clergy, by common law, are not to 

 be burdened in the general charges of 

 the laity ; nor to be troubled nor incum- 

 bered, unless expressly named and 

 charged by the statute; for general 

 words do not affect them : thus, if a 

 hundred be sued for a robbery, the mini- 

 ster shall not contribute ; neither shall 

 they be assessed to the highway, to the 

 watch, &.c. 



The revenues of the clergy were an- 

 ciently more considerable than at pre- 

 sent. Ethelwolph, in 855, gave them a 

 tythe of all goods, and a tenth of all the 

 lands in England, free from all secular 

 services, taxes, &c. The charter where- 

 by this was granted them, was confirm- 

 ed by several of his successors ; and 

 William the Conqueror, finding the 

 bishoprics so rich, created them into 

 baronies, each barony containing thir- 

 teen knight's fees at least ; but since the 

 reformation the bishoprics are much im- 

 poverished. The revenues of the infe- 

 rior clergy, in the general, are small, 

 a third part of the best benefices being 

 anciently, by the Pope's grant, appro- 

 priated to monasteries, upon the disso- 

 lution whereof they became lay -fees. In- 

 deed an addition was made, 2 Annx, 

 the whole revenues of first-fruits and 

 tenths being then granted, to raise a fund 

 for the augmentation of the maintenance 

 of the poor clergy; pursuant to which a 

 corporation was formed; to whem the 

 said revenues were conveyed in trust, 

 &c. 



CLERGY, benefit of. See BENEFIT. 



CLERK, a word originally used to de- 

 note a learned man, or a man of letters ; 

 whence the term became appropriated 

 to churchmen, who were from thence 

 c 'ied clerks or clergymen ; the nobility 

 and gentry being usually bred up to the 



exercise of arms, and none left but 

 the ecclesiastics to cultivate the sci- 

 ences. 



CLERK of the affidavits, the officer, in 

 the Court of Chancery, who files all affi- 

 davits made use of in court. 



CLERK of the assize, the person who 

 writes all things judicially done by the 

 justices of assize in their circuits. 



CLERK of the bails, an officer in the 

 court of King's Bench, whose business it 

 is to file all bail- pieces taken in that court, 

 where he always attends. 



CLERK of the check, an officer belonging 

 to the King's court, so called, because he 

 has the check and contfolment of the 

 yeomen of the guard, and all other ordi- 

 nary yeomen that belong to the king, 

 queen, or prince. He likewise, by him- 

 self or deputy, sets the watch in the 

 court. There is also an officer in the 

 navy of the same name, belonging to the 

 king's yards. 



CLERK of the crown, an officer in the 

 king's Bench, who frames, reads, and re- 

 cords all indictments against offenders, 

 there arraigned or indicted of any pub- 

 lic crime. He is likewise termed clerk of 

 the crown-office, in which capacity he ex- 

 hibits informations, by order of the 

 court, for divers offences. 



CLERK of the crown, in chancery, an 

 officer whose business it is constantly to 

 attend the Lord Chancellor, in person or 

 by deputy, to write and prepare for the 

 great seal special matters of state by 

 commission, both ordinary and extraordi- 

 nary ; viz. commissions of lieutenancy, of 

 justices of assize, oyer and terminer, gaol 

 delivery, and of the peace ; all general 

 pardons, granted either at the king's 

 coronation, or in parliament : the writs 

 of parliament, with the names of the 

 knights, citizens, and burgesses, are 

 also returned into his office. He also 

 makes out special pardons, and writs of 

 execution on bonds of statute-staple for- 

 feited. 



CLLRK of the declarations, he that files 

 all declarations after they are ingrossed, 

 in causes depending in the court of king's 

 bench. 



CLERK of the deliveries, an officer of the 

 tower, whose function is to take inden- 

 tures for all stores and ammunition issued 

 from thence. 



CLERK of the errors, in the court of Com- 

 mon Pleas, an officer who transcribes, and 

 certifies into the king's bench, the tenor 

 of the record of the action on which the 

 writ of error made out by the cursitor is 

 brought there to be determined. In the 

 king's bench the clerk of the errors tran- 



