privilege
    n 1: a special advantage or immunity or benefit not enjoyed by
         all
    2: a right reserved exclusively by a particular person or group
       (especially a hereditary or official right); "suffrage was
       the prerogative of white adult males" [syn: prerogative,
       privilege, perquisite, exclusive right]
    3: (law) the right to refuse to divulge information obtained in
       a confidential relationship
    v 1: bestow a privilege upon [syn: privilege, favor,
         favour]

Privilege \Priv"i*lege\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Privileged; p.
   pr. & vb. n. Privileging.] [Cf. F. privil['e]gier.]
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   1. To grant some particular right or exemption to; to invest
      with a peculiar right or immunity; to authorize; as, to
      privilege representatives from arrest.
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            To privilege dishonor in thy name.    --Shak.
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   2. To bring or put into a condition of privilege or exemption
      from evil or danger; to exempt; to deliver.
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            He took this place for sanctuary, And it shall
            privilege him from your hands.        --Shak.
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Privilege \Priv"i*lege\, n. [F. privil[`e]ge, L. privilegium an
   ordinance or law against or in favor of an individual; privus
   private + lex, legis, law. See Private, and Legal.]
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   1. A peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor; a right or
      immunity not enjoyed by others or by all; special
      enjoyment of a good, or exemption from an evil or burden;
      a prerogative; advantage; franchise.
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            He pleads the legal privilege of a Roman.
                                                  --Kettlewell.
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            The privilege birthright was a double portion.
                                                  --Locke.
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            A people inheriting privileges, franchises, and
            liberties.                            --Burke.
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   2. (Stockbroker's Cant) See Call, Put, Spread, etc.
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   Breach of privilege. See under Breach.

   Question of privilege (Parliamentary practice), a question
      which concerns the security of a member of a legislative
      body in his special privileges as such.

   Water privilege, the advantage of having machinery driven
      by a stream, or a place affording such advantage. [ U. S.]
      

   Writ of privilege (Law), a writ to deliver a privileged
      person from custody when arrested in a civil suit.
      --Blackstone.
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   Syn: Prerogative; immunity; franchise; right; claim; liberty.

   Usage: Privilege, Prerogative. Privilege, among the
          Romans, was something conferred upon an individual by
          a private law; and hence, it denotes some peculiar
          benefit or advantage, some right or immunity, not
          enjoyed by the world at large. Prerogative, among the
          Romans, was the right of voting first; and, hence, it
          denotes a right of precedence, or of doing certain
          acts, or enjoying certain privileges, to the exclusion
          of others. It is the privilege of a member of Congress
          not to be called in question elsewhere for words
          uttered in debate. It is the prerogative of the
          president to nominate judges and executive officers.
          It is the privilege of a Christian child to be
          instructed in the true religion. It is the prerogative
          of a parent to govern and direct his children.
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PRIVILEGE, mar. law. An allowance to the master of a ship of the general 
nature with primage, (q.v.) being compensation or rather a gratuity 
customary in certain trades, and which the law assumes to be a fair and 
equitable allowance, because the contract on both sides is made under the 
knowledge such usage by the parties. 3 Chit. Com. Law, 431. 

PRIVILEGE, rights. This word, taken its active sense, is a particular law, 
or a particular disposition of the law, which grants certain special 
prerogatives to some persons, contrary to common right. In its passive 
sense, it is the same prerogative granted by the same particular law. 
      2. Examples of privilege may be found in all systems of law; members 
of congress and of the several legislatures, during a certain time, parties
and witnesses while attending court; and coming to and returning from the
same; electors, while going to the election, remaining on the ground, or
returning from the same, are all privileged from arrest, except for treason,
felony or breach of the peace. 
     3. Privileges from arrest for civil cases are either general and 
absolute, or limited and qualified as to time or place. 
     4.-1. In the first class may be mentioned ambassadors, and their 
servants, when the debt or duty has been contracted by the latter since they 
entered into the service of such ambassador; insolvent debtors duly 
discharged under the insolvent laws; in some places, as in Pennsylvania, 
women for any debt by them contracted; and in general, executors and 
administrators, when sued in their representative character, though they 
have been held to bail. 2 Binn. 440. 
     5.-2. In the latter class may be placed, 1st. Members of congress this 
privilege is strictly personal, and is not only his own, or that of his 
constituent, but also that of the house of which he is a member, which every 
man is bound to know, and must take notice of. Jeff. Man. Sec. 3; 2 Wils. R. 
151; Com. Dig. Parliament, D. 17. The time during which the privilege 
extends includes all the period of the session of congress, and a reasonable 
time for going to, and returning from the seat of government. Jeff. Man. 
Sec. 3; Story, Const. Sec. 856 to 862; 1 Kent, Com. 221; 1 Dall. R. 296. The 
same privilege is extended to the members of the different state 
legislatures. 
     6.-2d. Electors under the constitution and laws of the United States, 
or of any state, are protected from arrest for any civil cause, or for any 
crime except treason, felony, or a breach of the peace, eundo, morando, et 
redeundo, that is, going to, staying at, or returning from the election. 
     7.-3d. Militia men, while engaged in the performance of military duty, 
under the laws, and eundo, morando et redeundo. 
     8.-4th. All persons who, either necessarily or of right are attending 
any court or forum of justice, whether as judge, juror, party interested or 
witness, and eundo, morando et redeundo. See 6 Mass. R, 245; 4 Dall. R. 329, 
487; 2 John. R. 294; 1 South. R. 366; 11 Mass. R. 11; 3 Cowen, R. 381; 1 
Pet. C. C. R. 41. 
     9. Ambassadors are wholly exempt from arrest for civil or criminal 
cases. 
     Vide Ambassador. See, generally, Bac. Ab. h.t.; 2 Rolle's Ab. 272; 2 
Lilly's Reg. 369; Brownl. 15; 13 Mass. R. 288; 1 Binn. R. 77; 1 H. Bl. 686; 
Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t. 

PRIVILEGE, civil law. A right which the nature of a debt gives to a 
creditor, and which entitles him to be preferred before other creditors. 
Louis. Code, art. 3153; Dict. de Juris. art. Privilege: Domat, Lois Civ. 
liv. 2, t. 1, s. 4, n. 1. 
     2. Creditors of the same rank of privileges, are paid in concurrence, 
that is, on an equal footing. Privileges may exist either in movables, or 
immovables, or both at once. They are general or special, on certain 
movables. The debts which are privileged on all the movables in general, are 
the following, which are paid in this order. 1. Funeral charges. 2. Law 
charges, which are such as are occasioned by the prosecution of a suit 
before the courts. But this name applies more particularly to costs, which 
the party cast has to pay to the party gaining the cause. It is in favor of 
these only that the law grants the privilege. 3. Charges, of whatever 
nature, occasioned by the last sickness, concurrently among those to whom 
they are due; see Last sickness. 4. The wages of servants for the year past, 
and so much as is due for the current year. 5. Supplies of provisions made 
to the debtor or his family during the last six months, by retail dealers, 
such as bakers, butchers, grocers; and during the last year by keepers of 
boarding houses and taverns. 6. The salaries of clerks, secretaries, and 
other persons of that kind. 7. Dotal rights, due to wives by their husbands. 
     3. The debts which are privileged on particular movables, are, 1. The 
debt of a workman or artisan for the price of his labor, on the movable 
which he has repaired, or made, if the thing continues still in his 
possession. 2. That debt on the pledge which is in the creditor's 
possession. 3. The carrier's charges and accessory expenses on the thing 
carried. 4. The price due on movable effects, if they are yet in the 
possession of the purchaser; and the like. See Lien. 
     4. Creditors have a privilege on immovables, or real estate in some, 
cases, of which the following are instances: 1. The vendor on the estate by 
him sold, for the payment of the price, or so much of it as is due whether 
it be sold on or without a credit. 2. Architects and undertakers, 
bricklayers and other workmen employed in constructing, rebuilding or 
repairing houses, buildings, or making other works on such houses, 
buildings, or works by them constructed, rebuilt or repaired. 3. Those who 
have supplied the owner with materials for the construction or repair of an 
edifice or other work, which he has erected or repaired out of these 
materials, on the edifice or other work constructed or repaired. Louis. 
Code, art. 3216. See, generally, as to privilege. Louis. Code, tit. 21; Code 
Civ. tit. 18; Dict. de Juris. tit. Privilege; Lien; Last sickness; 
Preference.