devastavit

1. (property law) Waste or misapplication of the assets of a deceased person by an executor or administrator; devastation.Examples: "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 Sheriff ſell them at undervalue, this is no Devaſtavit in the Executor."; "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 advantage of it; and therefore if ſuch an Obligor makes his Executor and die, and the Executor pay the uſurious Bond, other Creditors may ſhew it, and make a Devaſtavit of it, in Winchcomb and the Biſhop of Wincheſter’s Caſe."; "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 may lawfully dispose of the goods as he pleases, and it will not be a devastavit."

2. (property law) In full, writ of devastavit: a writ issued against an executor or administrator claiming compensation for such misapplication of assets.