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 […]