In English law. He that has full possession of a parochial church. A rector (or parson) has, for the most part, the whole right to all the ecclesiastical dues in his parish; while a vicar has an appropriates over him, entitled to the best part of the profits, to whom the vicar is, in effect, perpetual curate, with a standing salary. 1 Bl. Comm. 384, 388. See Bird v. St Mark’s Church, 62 Iowa, 567, 17 N. W. 747.
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TheLaw.com Law Dictionary & Black's Law Dictionary 2nd Ed.