Estrepement

— Estrepment L. Fr. & Eng. [L. Lat. estrepamentum; from Fr. estrepe, or estropier, to mutilate;

— or Lat. extirpare, to root up, or utterly destroy.] Spoil made by tenant for life upon any laads or woods, to the prejudice (tf the reversioner, as by drawing out the heart of the land by ploughing or sowing it continually, without manuring, or other such usage as is requisite in good husbandry;

— or by cutting down trees, or lopping them further than the law will allow. Cowell, Blount. Called in the old books strip. F. J\r. B. 60, 61. An aggravated kind of waste {ffravius vasti genua,) committed in lands, woods, or houses by a tenant for hfe or years, and especially during the pendency of a suit to recover possession; as by cutting down trees, destroying houses, &c., to the prejudice of the reversioner.* The etymology of this word, as well as its precise meaning, does not seem to be expressed with much clearness in the books.

Practically, it appears to have been considered the same as waste, distinguished only by the circumstances under which it was committed, viz.: during the pendency of a suit. This, at least, seems to have been the principal distinction between a writ of estrepement, and a writ of waste proper.

3 Bl. Com. 225, 226.

Spelman is the only writer who seems to have discovered the true derivation of the word, and through that to have arrived at its radical meaning. JSstrepamentum is quasi extirpamenium, from extirpare, to root out, or rase to the foundations; to destroy utterly, {delere.) In confirmation of this he refers to the judicial writ de estrepamento in the Register, in which the word extirpare is prominently used.

Beg. Jud. 33 b.

Two other writs in the Register of similar character are called writs de extirpatione.

Reg. Jud. 13, 68 b.

See Temtes de la ley, voc.

Extirpation.