The act of appropriating , or setting apart; prescribing the destination of a thing; designating the use or application of a fund. In public law. The act by which the legislative department of government designates a particular fund, or sets apart a specified portion of the public revenue or of the money in the public treasury, to be applied to some general object of governmental expenditure, (as the civil service list, etc> or to some individual purchase or expense. State v. Moore, 50 Neb. 88, 69 N. W. 373, 61 Am. St Rep. 538; Clayton v. Berry, 27 Ark. 129. When money is appropriated (i.e., set apart) for the purpose of securing the payment of a specific debt or class of debts, or for an individual purchase or object of expense, it is said to be specifically appropriated for that purpose. A specific appropriation is an act of the legislature by which a named sum of money has been set apart in the treasury, and devoted to the payment of a particular demand. Stratton v. Green, 45 Cal. 149. Appropriation of land. The act of selecting, devoting, or setting apart land for a particular use or purpose, as where land is appropriated for public buildings, military reservations, or other public uses. McSorley v. Hill, 2 Wash. St. 638, 27 Pac. 552; Mur dock v. Memphis, 7 Cold. (Tenn.) 500; Jackson v. Wilcox, 2 111. 360. Sometimes also applied to the taking of private property for public use in the exercise of the power of eminent domain. Railroad Co. v. Foltz (C. C) 52 Fed. 629; Sweet v. Rechel, 159 U. S. 380, 16 Sup. Ct. 43, 40 L. Ed. 188 Appropriation of water. An appropriation of water flowing on the public domain consists in the capture, impounding, or diversion of it from its natural course or channel and its actual application to some beneficial use private or personal to the ap propriator, to the entire exclusion (or exclusion to the extent of the water appropriated) of all other persons. To constitute a valid appropriation, there must be an Intent to apply the water to some beneficial use existing at the time or contemplated in the future, a diversion from the natural channel by means of a ditch or canal, or some other open physical act of taking possession of the water, and an actual application of it within a reasonable time to some useful or beneficial purpose. Low v. Rizor, 25 Or 551, 37 Pac. 82; Clough v. Wing, 2 Ariz. 371, 17 Pac. 453; Offield v. Ish, 21 Wash 277, 57 Pac. 809; Reservoir Co. v. People, 8 Colo. 614, 9 Pac. 794; McCall v. Porter, 42 Or. 49, 70 Pac. 820; McDonald v. Mining Co., 13 Cal. 220. Appropriation of payments. This means the application of a payment to the discharge of a particular debt. Thus, if a creditor has two distinct debts due to him from his debtor, and the latter makes a general payment on account, without specifying at the time to which debt he intends the payment to apply, It is optional for the creditor to appropriate (apply) the payment to either of the two debts he pleases. Gwin t. McLean, 62 Miss. 121; Martin v. Draher, 5 Watts (Pa.) 544. In English ecclesiastical lair. The perpetual annexing of a benefice t6 some spiritual corporation either sole or aggregate, Bl. Law Dict.(2d Ed.)6 being the patron of the living. 1 Bl. Comm. 384; 3 Steph. Comm. 70 75; 1 Crabb, Real Prop. p. 144,