Reddit reviews As If an Enemy's Country: The British Occupation Of Boston And The Origins Of Revolution (Pivotal Moments In American History (Oxford))

My comments are specifically going to focus on the 17th and 18th century practices in North America.

>Who exactly was eligible? Ordained members of the Catholic church obviously, but I've found references to laypeople claiming it too.

By the 16th century at least, benefit of clergy was available to common people. The earliest record for benefit of clergy being used in North America is in 1628 in Virginia.

To be eligible you had to be able to read and be white (though in the 18th century the benefit of clergy was expanded to include free non-whites). The reading requirement was somewhat lax though, as the normal method for testing the ability of a person to read was to have them quote Psalm 51 "Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness; according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences."

In America this requirement was eliminated by 1732.

>Was the advantage in that you were more likely to be found not guilty by your peers in the church, or that punishments were generally less harsh when found guilty?

The benefit of clergy would not prevent someone from being charged, nor would it give someone a higher chance of a not-guilty verdict. The person claiming benefit of clergy didn't do so until after the verdict--so they would still be tried in a secular court, and punishment wold be determined by the secular judges. The case would not be transferred to an ecclesiastical court.

The purpose was to give first-time offenders a chance to claim leniency in their punishment.

>And on that note, what kinds of punishments were handed out?

If you claimed benefit of clergy you would be branded on your thumb or hand to mark you as having taken advantage of this. This would prevent you from trying to claim it a second time. Sometimes transportation was used as a penalty instead (so a person might be transported from England to America, or if in America would be evicted from the colony they were in). The branding would normally be the letter M for "manslayer"

>Were there any crimes that you couldn't claim benefit of clergy for?

Yes. Actually were only a handful of crimes that were "clergyable". Originally the only crime that could claim this benefit was manslaughter. Eventually this list was expanded to include mutiny and rebellion, murder, incest, rape, and adultery

>Was it possible for the Church to refuse to hear the case and remand you back to civil authorities if they wished?

By at least 1575 the Church no longer heard cases from those claiming benefit of clergy. The cases were tried in regular courts and then the guilty party would claim the benefit of clergy before the punishment was announced.

>Was there much variation in how the practices was administered country to country?

I believe that benefit of clergy is strictly an English tradition.

>At what point did it start to decline? It seems to have been on the books, at least in some countries, at least through the 18th century, but was it actually being used much that late?

It was used in 1770 in the Boston Massacre Trial. Two of the eight soldiers were convicted of manslaughter and plead "benefit of clergy" to avoid a potential hanging or long imprisonment. By this point the practice seems to have been restricted largely to manslaughter cases. The guilty party would be branded with an M for "manslayer".

Sources:

1.) As If an Enemy's Country: The British Occupation of Boston and the Origins of Revolution

2.) The Benefit of Clergy Plea

3.) "Benefit of Clergy" in Maryland and Virginia by Jeffrey K Sawyer

As If an Enemy's Country: The British Occupation of Boston and the Origins of Revolution - http://www.amazon.com/As-Enemys-Country-Occupation-Revolution/dp/0199895775