devastavit
Waste or misapplication of the assets of a deceased person by an executor or administrator; devastation.
Noun
- Waste or misapplication of the assets of a deceased person by an executor or administrator; devastation.
- Waſt may be committed by ſelling or confuſing the Teſtator's Goods, leaving debts unpaid. By […] not having enough to pay them by ſelling of the Teſtator's Goods at an undervalue if by Covin, but if upon a judgment the...
- If an Executor pay an Uſurious Bond, other Creditors may make a Devaſtavit of it, Hob. p. 167. If a Man be bound in an Obligation Uſurious, the Bond is void between the Parties, yea and Strangers ſhall take the...
- An executor is guilty of a devastavit if he pays legacies before the debts. […] If an administrator pay the debts of the intestate in such order as the law appoints to the value of all the goods with his own money, he...
- In full, writ of devastavit: a writ issued against an executor or administrator claiming compensation for such misapplication of assets.
Origin
Borrowed from Medieval Latin dēvastāvit (“he has wasted”), from dēvastāre, from dēvastō (“to devastate, lay waste”), from de- + vastāre (from vastō (“to devastate, lay waste, ravage”), from vastus (“deserted, wasted”), from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂st- (“empty; wasted”)).