Definition of "beneficium" []

• A right or privilege: a term more especially of the civil law: as, beneficium abstinendi, that is, right of abstaining, the power of an heir to abstain from accepting the inheritance. (noun)
• In feudal law, a benefice. (noun)

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "The struggle with the curia began at the Diet of Besancon, where Rainald vigorously rejected the use of the word beneficium, which might mean fief as well as benefit."
• "The expression was ambiguous, since the Latin word beneficium might mean either a personal benefit or a feudal concession."
• "Against it there is no true appeal; but the Congregation grants another means of redress called beneficium novœ audientiœ (the benefit of a new hearing)."