Advowson

n. right to appoint a priest to a church office

For the process for appointing a parish priest in the Church of England, see Parish. Advowson is the right in English law of presenting a nominee to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice. In effect this means the right to nominate a person to hold a church office in a parish. Advowsons were one of the earliest incorporeal hereditaments. As such, courts will still occasionally look to the common law on the transfer of advowsons for guidance on the transfer of modern incorporeal hereditaments, such as farming allotments. See First Victoria Nat'l Bank v. United States, 620 F.2d 1096 (5th Cir., 1980).
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Noun
1. the right in English law of presenting a nominee to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice
(hypernym) right
(classification) law, jurisprudence

(n.)
The right of presenting to a vacant benefice or living in the church. [Originally, the relation of a patron (advocatus) or protector of a benefice, and thus privileged to nominate or present to it.]
  

Ecclesiastical Law. From advow or advocare, a right of presentation to a church or benefice. He who possesses this right is called the patron or advocate, when there is no patron, or he neglects to exercise his right within six months, it is called a lapse, i. e. a title is given to the ordinary to collate to a church; when a presentation is made by one who has no right it is called a usurpation. Advowsons are of different kinds, as Advowson appendant, when it depends upon a manor.
    - Advowson in gross, when it belongs to a person and not to a manor.
    - Advowson presentative, where the patron presents to the bishop. - Advowson donative, where the king or patron puts the clerk into possession without presentation.
    - Advowson of the moiety of the church, where there are two several patrons and two incumbents in the same churcb.
    - A moiety of advowson, where two must join the presentation, of one incumbent.
    - Advowson of religious houses, that whicb is vested in the person who founded such a house.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.