CLEMENCY¹. The disposition² to treat with leniency³. See Mercy; Pardon.

CLEMENTINES, eccl. law. The name usually given to the collection of decretals or constitutious of Pope Clement⁵ V., which was made by order of John XXII. his successor, who published it in 1317. The death of Clement V., which happened in 1314, prevented him from publishing this collection, which is properly a compilation⁶, as well of the epistles and constitutions of this pope, as of the decrees of the council of Vienna, over which he presided. The Clementines are divided in five books, in which the matter is distributed nearly upon the same plan as the Decretals of Gregory IX. VideLa Bibliotheque des auteurs ecclesiastiques, par⁴ Dupin.

CLERGY⁷. All who are attached to the ecclesiastical ministry⁸ are called the clergy; a clergyman is therefore an ecclesiastical minister.

2. Clergymen were exempted⁹ by the emperor Constantine from all civil burdens. Baronius ad ann. 319, 30. Lord Coke says, 2 Inst. 3, ecclesiastical persons have more and greater liberties than other of the king's subjects, wherein to set down all, would take up a whole volume of itself.

3. In the United States the clergy is not established by law, but each congregation or church may choose its own clergyman.

CLERICAL ERROR. An error made by a clerk in transcribing¹⁰ or otherwise. This is always readily corrected by the court. 2. An error, for example, in the teste of a fi. fa.; 4 Yeates, 185, 205; or in the teste and return of a vend¹². exp.; 1 Dall. 197 or in writing Dowell forMcDowell. 1 Serg. & R. 120; 8 Rep. 162 a; 9 Serg. & R. 284, 5. An error is amendable¹⁴ where there is something to amend¹³ by, and this even in a criminal case. 2 Bin¹¹. 5-16; 5 Burr. 2667; 1 Bin. 367-9; Dougl. 377; Cowp. 408. For the party ought not to be harmed by the omission¹⁵ of the clerk; 3 Bin. 102; even of his signature, if he affixes¹⁶ the seal. 1 Serg. & R. 97.

CLERK, commerce, contract. A person in the employ of a merchant, who attends only to a part of his business, while the merchant himself superintends the whole. He differs from a factor in this, that the latter wholly supplies the place of his principal in respect to the property consigned¹⁷ to him. Pard. Dr. Com. n. 38, 1 Chit. Pract. 80; 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 1287.

CLERK, officer. A person employed in an office, public or private, for keeping records or accounts. His business is to write or register, in proper form, the transactions of the tribunal or body to which he belongs. Some clerks, however, have little or no writing to do in their offices, as, the clerk of the market, whose duties are confined chiefly to superintending the markets. In the English law, clerk also signifies a clergyman.

CLERK, eccl. law. Every individual, who is attached to the ecclesiastical state, and who has submitted to the ceremony of the tonsure¹⁸, is a clerk.

CLIENT, practice. One who employs and retains an attorney or counsellor to manage or defend a suit or action in which he is a party, or to advise him about some legal matters.

2. The duties of the client towards his counsel are, 1st. to give him a written authority, 1 Ch. Pr. l9; 2. to disclose his case with perfect candor3. to offer spontaneously, advances of money to his attorney; 2 Ch. Pr. 27; 4. he should, at the end of the suit, promptly¹⁹ pay his attorney his fees. Ib. His rights are, 1. to be diligently²⁰ served in the management of his business 2. to be informed of its progress and, 3. that his counsel shall not disclose what has been professionally confided²¹ to him. See Attorney at law; Confidential²² communication.