Augmentation
Augmentation is a term in Scotch ecclesiastical law denoting a portion of the ancient tithes placed under the superintendence of the Court of Session, and granted by them to an incumbent, as they shall see cause. The ordinary way of obtaining it is to raise a process before the courts.
While impropriations were in the hands of monks and other ecclesiastical persons or bodies, the bishop had power to augment the endowment given- by such impropriators to the vicarages of churches where they held the tithes and profits; nor is there any reason to doubt that the bishops in the present. day possess the same power over impropriators, both lay and clerical. Such was the opinion of the law officers given to Morton, bishop of Durham. See Watson, p. 140, 305; Johnson, Clergyman's Vade-mecum, p. 82; Kennet, On Impropriations, p. 145.
