ADVOWSON

ADVOWSON, or Advowzen, Advoterie, Advocatia, or Advocatio, the Quality, or Office of an Advowee, or Advocate, etc. See ADVOWEE, etc.

Advowson, or Advouzen, in Common Law, signifies a right to present to a Benefice. See PRESENTATION.

In this sense, the Word imports as much as Jus patronatus in the Canon Law. See PATRONAGE.



The reason of the Name Advowson, Advocatio, is, that anciently, those who had a Right to present to a Church, were Maintainers of it, or great Benefactors to it; and were sometimes called Patrons, and sometimes Advocati, or Advowees. See ADVOCARE, etc. In general, an Advowson is where a Bishop, Dean, or Chapter, and their Successors, or any Lay Patron, have a Right to present whom they please to any spiritual Benefice, when it becomes void. See VACANCY and BENEFICE, etc.

This Advowson is of two Kinds.—Advowson in gross, that is, not immediately restrained, or adhering to any Manor, as Parcel thereof. And Advowson appendant, which depends on a Manor, as appurtenant to it: This Kitchin calls an Incident, which may be separated from its Subject.

Add, that as the Builders and Endowers of a Church were the Patrons of it; so those who founded any Religious House, had the Advowson or Patronage of it. Sometimes the Patron had the sole Nomination of the Prelate, Abbot, or Prior; either by Investiture, (or Delivery of a Pastoral Staff) or by direct Presentation to the Diocesan: And if a free Election was left to the Religious, yet a Congé d'Elire, or Licence of Election, was first to be obtained of the Patron, and the Person elected was confirmed by him. If the Founder’s Family was extinct, the Patronage of the Convent went to the Lord of the Manor.

ADVOWSON