Benefit of Clergy

I had forgotten about this interesting little twist in British legal history. For roughly 350 years one could avoid being charged with a crime or could (if a first time offender) receive a lesser sentence if you could prove you could read. This was pretty important in an era when stealing property of almost any sort might attract the penalty of death by hanging.

From Wikipedia:

At first, in order to plead the benefit of clergy, one had to appear before the court tonsured and otherwise wearing ecclesiastical dress. Over time, this proof of clergy-hood was replaced by a literacy test: defendants demonstrated their clerical status by reading from the Bible. This opened the door to literate lay defendants' also claiming the benefit of clergy. In 1351, under Edward III, this loophole was formalised in statute, and the benefit of clergy was officially extended to all who could read.

The literacy test was not abolished until 1706. I guess it would have given kids a pretty good incentive to pay attention in class.