Malfeasance
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence · Benjamin Vaughan Abbott · 1879
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence
The commission of some act which is positively unlawful to do; opposed to nonfeasance, or the omission to perform a duty; and to misfeasance, or the improper performance of some lawful act. The term malfeasance is often used carelessly to describe a misfeasance. But a statute prescribing that a sheriff's bond shall cover defaults and misfeasances of deputies should not be construed as including a wilful or mistaken trespass by a deputy in taking property of one person under execution against another; but only for a deputy's neglects and defaults.
Coite v. Lynes, 33 Conn. 109.