privilege

Definition of privilege

Etymology

From Old French privilège, from Latin privilegium an ordinance or law against or in favor of an individual; privus private + lex, legis, law.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpɹɪvÉ™lÉ›dÊ'/ (Canadian) or /ˈpɹɪv(É™)lɪdÊ'/ (RP) or /ˈpɹɪv(É™)lÉ™dÊ'/
• Audio (US) ^[?]

Noun

privilege (plural privileges)

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; preferential treatment.
   
   All first-year professors here must teach four courses a term, yet you're only teaching one! What entitled you to such a privilege?
   
   
2. The status or existence of such benefit or advantage.
   
   In order to advance racial equality in the United States, what we've got to do is reduce white privilege.
   
   
3. (law) A common law doctrine that protects certain communications from being used as evidence in court.
   
   Your honor, my client is not required to answer that; her response is protected by attorney-client privilege.

Further reading

A privilege is a special entitlement to immunity granted by the state or another authority to a restricted group, either by birth or on a conditional basis. It can be revoked in certain circumstances. In modern democratic states, a privilege is conditional and granted only after birth. By contrast, a right is an inherent, irrevocable entitlement held by all citizens or all human beings from the moment of birth. Various older privileges, such as the old common law privilege to title deeds, may still exist, but be of little relevance today. Etymologically a privilege (privilegium) means a "private law", or rule relating to a specific individual or institution. Boniface's abbey of Fulda, to cite an early and prominent example, was granted privilegium, setting the abbot in direct contact with the pope, bypassing the jurisdiction of the local bishop.

In a broader sense, "privilege" can refer to special powers or de facto immunities held as a consequence of political power or wealth. Privilege of this sort may be transmitted by birth into a privileged class, membership in a particular group, or achieved through individual actions. One of the objectives of the French Revolution was the abolition of privilege. This meant the removal of separate laws for different social classes (nobility, clergy and ordinary people), instead subjecting everyone to the same common law. Privileges were abolished by the National Constituent Assembly on August 4, 1789.

One common legal privilege in the United States is protection from the requirement to testify or provide documents in certain situations. (See subpoena duces tecum and privilege (evidence).)