Devastavit

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Devastavit \Dev`as*ta"vit\, n. [L., he has wasted.] (Law)
     Waste or misapplication of the assets of a deceased person by
     an executor or an administrator. --Bouvier.
     [1913 Webster]

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:



  DEVASTAVIT. A devastavit is a mis-management and waste by an executor, 
  administrator, or other trustee of the estate and effects trusted to him, as 
  such, by which a loss occurs. 
       2. It takes place by direct abuse, by mal-administration, and by 
  neglect. 
       3.-1. By direct abuse. This takes place when the executor, 
  administrator, or trustee, sells, embezzles, or converts to his own use, the 
  goods entrusted to him; Com. Dig. Administration, I 1; releases a claim due 
  to the estate; 8 Bac. Abr. 700; Hob. 266; Cro. Eliz. 43; 7 John. R. 404; 9 
  Mass. 352; or surrenders a lease below its value. 2 John. Cas. 376; 3 P. 
  Wms. 330. These instances sufficiently show that any willful waste of the 
  property will be considered as a direct devastavit. 
       4.-2. By mal-administration. Devastavit by mal-administration most 
  frequently occurs by the payment of claims which were not due nor owing; or 
  by paying others out of the order in which they ought to be paid; or by the 
  payment of legacies before all the, debts have been satisfied. 4 Serg. & 
  Rawle, 394; 5 Rawle, 266. 
       5.-3. By neglect. Negligence on the part of an executor, 
  administrator, or trustee, may equally tend to the waste of the estate, as 
  the direct destruction or mal-administration of the assets, and render him 
  guilty of a devastavit. The neglect to sell the goods at a fair price, 
  within a reasonable time, or, if they are perishable goods, before they are 
  wasted, will be a devastavit. And a neglect to collect a doubtful debt, 
  which by proper exertion might have been collected, will be so considered. 
  Bac. Ab. Executors, L. 
       6. The law requires from trustees, good faith and due diligence, the 
  want of which is punished by making them responsible for the losses which 
  may be sustained by the property entrusted to them when, therefore, a party 
  has been guilty of a devastavit, he is required to. make up the loss out of 
  his own estate. Vide Com. Dig. Administration, I; 11 Vin. Ab. 306; 1 Supp. 
  to Ves. jr. 209; 1 Vern. 328; 7 East, R. 257 1 Binn. 194; 1 Serg. & Rawle, 
  241 1 John. R. 396; 1 Caines' Cas. 96 Bac. Ab. Executor, L; 11 Toull. 58, 
  59, n. 48.