Malicious mischief
Black's Law Dictionary · Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910
Black's Law Dictionary
A term applied to the willful destruction of personal property, from actual ill will or resentment towards its owner or possessor.
People v. Petheram, 64 Mich. 252, 3l N. W. 188; First Nat. Bank v. Burkett, 101 111. 394, 40 Am. Rep. 209; State v. Robinson, 20 N. C. 130, 32 Am. Dec. 661; Thomas v. State, 30 Ark. 435.
Malicious mischief or damage is a species of injury to private property, which the law considers as a public crime. This is such as is done, not animo furandi, or with an intent of gaining by another's loss, but either out of a spirit of wanton cruelty or wicked revenge. In this latter light it bears a near relation to the crime of arson, for, as that affects the habitation, so does this the property, of individuals; and therefore any damage arising from this mischievous disposition, though only a trespass at the common law, is now, by several statutes, made severely penal.
Jacob.