Devastavit - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition devastavit

Definition :

Devastavit (he has wasted), a devastation or waste of the property of the deceased person by an executor or administrator by extravagance or misapplication of the assets, for which he is liable. 'A devastavit or waste in an executor or administrator is when he doth misemploy the estate of the deceased, and misdemean himself in the managing thereof, against the trust reposed in him': Shep. Touch. P. 485. An action founded on a devastavit will be barred after six years by the Statute of Limitations, Lacons v. Wormall, (1907) 2 KB 350; Re Blow, (1914) 1 Ch 233, and s. 8(3) of the Trustee Act, 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 59).

A writ lying against an executor for devastation: the offence of devastation.

Devastavit, a personal representative in accepting the office accepts the duties of the office, and becomes a trustee in the sense that he is personally liable in equity for all breaches of the ordinary trusts which in courts of equity are considered to arise from his office. The violation of his duties of administration is termed a devastavit, Marsdin, Bowden v. Layland, Gibbs v. Layland, (1884) 26 Ch D 783 (UK).