1) The right to appoint a priest to a parish church. Advowsons could be held by laymen and were treated as real property which could be inherited, sold, exchanged, or even divided between co-heiresses (one appointing on one occasion, another on the next, and so on).

2) The right of presentation to a church or benefice.

3) Patronage of a church living; the legal right to present a candidate for installation in a vacant ecclesiastical office.