ADVOWSON

advowson  (ad-vow-z<<schwa>>n).Eccles.  law.  The  right  of  presenting  or  nominating  a

person to a vacant be-nefice in the church. • The person enjoying this right is called the “patron”

(patronus)  of  the  church,  and  was  formerly  termed  “advocatus,”  the  advocate or  defender,  or  in

English, the “advowee.” The patron presents the nominee to the bishop (or, occasionally, another

church  dignitary).  If  there is  no  patron,  or  if  the  patron  neglects to  exercise  the  right within  six

months, the right lapses and a title is given to the ordinary (usu. the bishop) to appoint a cleric to

the church. Cf. PRESENTATION(2); INSTITUTION(5).

“A right of presentation has always been regarded as a valuable object of a sale, a species of

real property which  can be transferred and dealt with  generally  in the same  way as a fee simple

estate  in  lands  ….  Thus  an  advowson  may  be  conveyed  away  in  fee  simple,  fee  tail,  for  life  or

years, or the conveyance may be limited to the right of next presentation or of a specified number

of future presentations.” G.C. Cheshire, Modern Law of Real Property 110 (3d ed. 1933).

“An advowson is the perpetual right of presentation to an ecclesiastical living. The owner of

an advowson is known as the patron. When a living becomes vacant, as when a rector or vicar dies

or retires, the patron of the living has a right to nominate the clergyman who shall next hold the

living.  Subject  to  a  right  of  veto  on  certain  specified  grounds,  the  Bishop  is  bound  to  institute

(formally  appoint)  any  duly  qualified  person  presented.  This  is  a  relic  of  the  days  when  it  was

common  for  the  lord  of  a  manor  to  build  and  endow  a  church  and  in  return  have  the  right  of

patronage.” Robert E. Megarry & P.V. Baker, A Manual of the Law of Real Property 414 (4th ed.

1969).

advowson  appendant  (<<schwa>>-pen-d<<schwa>>nt).  An  advowson  annexed  to a  manor,

and passing as incident to it, whenever the manor is conveyed to another. • The advowson passes

with the manor even if it is not mentioned in the grant.

advowson  collative  (k<<schwa>>-lay-tiv).  An  advowson  for  which  there  is  no  separate

presentation to the bishop because the bishop happens to be the patron as well. • In this case, the

one act by which the benefice is conferred is called “collation.”

advowson donative (don-<<schwa>>-tiv ordoh-n<<schwa>>-tiv). An advowson in which the

patron has the right to put a cleric in possession by a mere gift, or deed of donation, without any

presentation to the bishop. • This type of advowson was converted into the advowson presentative

by the Benefices Act of 1898. — Also termed donative advowson.

“An advowson donative is when the king, or any subject by his licence, doth found a church

or chapel, and ordains that it shall be  merely  in the  gift or  disposal of the  patron; subject to his

visitation only, and  not to that of the ordinary; and vested absolutely in the clerk by the patron’s

deed  of  donation,  without  presentation,  institution,  or  induction.  This  is  said  to  have  been

anciently the only way of conferring ecclesiastical benefices in England; the method of institution

by the bishop not being established more early than the time of archbishop Becket in the reign of

Henry II.” 2 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 23 (1766).

advowson in gross.An advowson that is separated from the manor and annexed to a person. •

All advowsons that have been separated from their original manors are advowsons in gross.

advowson presentative (pri-zen-t<<schwa>>-tiv). The usual kind of advowson, in which the

patron  has  the  right  to  make  the  presentation to  the  bishop  and  to  demand  that  the  nominee be

instituted, if the bishop finds the nominee canonically qualified.

donative advowson.See advowson donative. [Blacks Law 8th]