ADVOWSON

is the right of patronage to a church, or an ecclesiastical benefice; and he who has the right of advowson is called the patron of the church, from his obligation to defend the rights of the church from oppre ion and violence. For when lords of manors first built churches upon their own demesnes, and appointed the tithes of those manors to be paid to the officiating ministers, which before were given to the clergy in common, the lord, who thus built a church and endowed it with glebe or land, had of common right a power annexed of nominating such minister as he pleased (provided he were canonically qualified) to officiate in that church, of which he was the founder, endower, maintainer, or, in one word, the patron. Advowsons are of two sorts, advowsons appendant, and advowsons in gro . When annexed to a manor or land, so as to pa with them, they are appendant; for so long as the church continues annexed to the po e ion of the manor, as some have done from the foundation of the church to this day, the patronage or presentation belongs to the person in po e ion of the manor or land. But when the property of the advowson has been once separated from that of the manor by legal conveyance, it is called an advowson in gro , or at large, and exists as a personal right in the person of its owner, independent of his manor or land. Advowsons are also either presentative, collative, donative, or elective. An advowson presentative is where the patron has a right to present the parson to the bishop or ordinary to be instituted and inducted, if he finds him canonically qualified. An advowson collative is where the bishop is both patron and ordinary. An advowson donative is where the king, or any subject by his licence, founds 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. As to presentations to advowsons: where there are divers patrons, joint-tenants, or tenants in common, and they vary in their presentment, the ordinary is not bound to admit any of their clerks; and if the six months elapse within which time they are to present, he may present by the lapse; but he may not present within the six months; for if he do, they may agree and bring a quare imped it against him, and remove his clerk. Where the patrons are co-parceners, the eldest sister, or her a ignee, is entitled to present; and then, at the next avoidance, the next sister shall present, and so by turns one sister after another, till all the sisters, or their heirs, have presented, and then the eldest sister shall begin again, except they agree to present together, or by composition to present in some other manner. But if the eldest presents together with another of her sisters, and the other sisters every one of them in their own name, or together, the ordinary is not bound to receive any of their clerks, but may suffer the church to lapse. But in this case, before the bishop can take advantage of the lapse, he must direct a writ to inquire the right of patronage. Where an advowson is mortgaged, the mortgager alone shall present, when the church becomes vacant: and the mortgagee can derive no advantage from the presentation in reduction of his debt. If a woman has an advowson, or part of an advowson, to her and her heirs, and marries, the husband may not only present jointly with his wife, during the coverture, but also after her death the right of presenting during his life is lodged in him, as tenant by courtesy, if he has children by her. And even though the wife dies without having had i ue by her husband, so that he is not tenant by courtesy, and the church remains vacant at her death, yet the husband shall present to the void turn; and if in such case he does not present, his executor may. If a man, seized of an advowson, takes a wife, and dies, the heir shall have two presentations, and the wife the third, even though her husband may have granted away the third turn. Or, if a manor, to which an advowson is appendant, descends to the heir, and he a igns dower to his mother of the third part of the manor, with the appurtenances, she is entitled to the presentation of the third part of the advowson; the right of presentation being a chose in action which is not a ignable. If an advowson is sold, when the church is vacant, it is decided that the grantee is not entitled to the benefit of the next presentation. If, during the vacancy of a church, the patron die, his executor, or personal representative, is entitled to that presentation, unle it be a donative benefice, in which case the right of donation descends to the heir. But if the incumbent of a church be also seized in fee of the advowson of the same church, and die, his heir, and not his executors, shall present. As to the manner in which advowsons descend, it has been determined, that advowsons in gro cannot descend from the brother to the sister of the entire blood, but they shall descend to the brother of the half blood, unle the first had presented to it in his lifetime, and then it shall descend to the sister, she being the next heir of the entire blood. ÆONS. ( Αίῶνες , ages.) The name given by some of the Gnostic heretics to the spiritual beings, whom they supposed to have emanated from the Divinity. (See Val ent in us .)