*10.* _“__Benefit of the Clergy,__”__ Ecclesiastical Court._—As the old Roman Empire decayed and its power waned, the new one, “The Holy Roman Empire,” gradually implanted itself in southwestern Europe. The humiliation that the divine law and the clergy suffered in being brought into the common courts gave rise to a system of courts within the Church for the purpose of enforcing her morals, doctrines, and discipline. Those courts were established in all Christian countries and had jurisdiction of all felonies excepting arson, treason, and a few other crimes that from time to time were put under the special jurisdiction of the state courts. Whenever a clergyman was arrested for a crime, he pleaded the “benefit of the clergy,” and his case was transferred from the state court to the ecclesiastical court. Also, when a clergyman was convicted in the state court of any crime for which the punishment was death, he could plead the “benefit of the clergy,” which was a protection against his execution.(13) *11.* _Estates, Guardianship._—Besides the jurisdiction already referred to, the ecclesiastical court had jurisdiction over the settlement of estates and the guardianship of children, which varied in different countries and was very indefinite in some of them.(14) *12.* _Middle Ages, Common Law._—During the Middle Ages there was a constant effort on behalf of the ecclesiastical courts to extend their jurisdiction, and a counter-effort on behalf of the state courts to assume jurisdiction of cases under the ecclesiastical law. In England, from the conquest of William the Conqueror to the Reformation, the extension of the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts brought the new element of English common law into the canon law; and much of the canon law, following the jurisdiction assumed by the state courts, became the common law of the kingdom of England.(15) *13.* _Gratian, Reformation._—The canon law reached its full development in the twelfth century, when Gratian, the Blackstone of his age, compiled the system, but it subsequently lost its influence when the Reformation prevailed.(16) *14.* _Bologna._—The great school of jurisprudence, both of canon and civil law, was located at Bologna, Italy, which reached its zenith in the thirteenth century. To it students flocked from Western Europe, and from it were obtained the professors of law in the universities of England and other countries.(17) *15.* _Church and State._—In most of the Christian countries, the Church and State were united, and many of the judges in the civil courts were clergymen.(18) *16.* _England, Roman Law._—On account of England’s being subject to Rome in its earliest age, and afterward because of its being conquered by France, the Roman law was pretty thoroughly intermixed with the native English law in the minor matters of the people, and governed in the more important ones.(19)