France, signifies a royal act in writing, conferring some privilege or distinction, as brevet d'invention, i.e., a patent; also a license to trade, as a bookseller's or printer's brevet.

Brevet is applied in the British service to a species of commission which entitles an officer to a rank in the army above that for which he receives pay. Thus a brevet major serves as a captain, and receives pay as such. The term brevet is also used sometimes to express general promotion, by which a given number of officers obtain a grade of rank without additional pay. Brevet rank does not exist in the navy; and in the army it is restricted, descending no lower than that of captain, nor ascending above that of lieutenant-colonel. Brevet rank gives precedence in the army generally, but not in the particular regiment to which the officer belongs, except in the case of its being temporarily united with some other corps. (See Grose's Military Antiquities.)