IMPROPRIATION

impropriation (im-proh-pree-ay-sh<<schwa>>n).Eccles. law. The grant of an ecclesiastical benefice to the use of a layperson, whether individual or corporate. See LAY IMPROPRIATOR. Cf. APPROPRIATION(5).

“A church might also be appropriated to a layman, and the proper word to denote this was

impropriation as distinct from appropriation, which was confined to the case of an allocation to a spiritual body.” G.C. Cheshire, Modern Law of Real Property 333 (3d ed. 1933).

[Blacks Law 8th]