Etymology and Definition

Etymology of the word Privilege

According to Isidore of Seville in the 7th Century, the etymology of the word "privilege" traced back to Cicero's use of the Latin terms leges privatorium (laws of individual persons) and privare lex (private law) in the sense that "a privilege" separates one from the common norm or renders one immune from the general law." So it was with Paucaplea in the 12th Century and his definition of lex privata and privatio legum (McCormack, 1997, p.6). Before modern times, privilege almost always referred to some type of legal relationship that conferred a "positive benefit" or "unfair advantage," and to "special rights, immunities, permissions, licenses, or authorizations to do or to omit what was otherwise forbidden or required" (McCormack, p. 5). Under a feudal regime, privileges were often "a right granted as an advantage or power" or "a special advantage, immunity, permission, right,...
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