Devastavit

There can be no doubt that the judgment against the administratrix, the inventory and two first accounts were conclusive evidence of a devastavit.

A mismanagement and waste by an executor, administrator, or other trustee, of the estate and effects trusted to him as such, by which a loss occurs. Devastavit may be: (1) By direct abuse, as when the executor, administrator, or trustee sells, embezzles, or converts to his own use the goods intrusted to him (Comyn, Dig. "Administration" [I 1]), releases a claim due to the estate (8 Bac Abr. 700; Hob. 266; Cro. (2 Johns. Cas. [N. Y.] 376; S P. Wms. 330). (2) By maladministration, as by the payment of claims which were not due nor owing, or by paying others out of the order in which they ought to be paid, or by the payment of legacies before all the debts are satisfied. 4 Serg. & R. (Pa.) 394; 5 Rawle (Pa.) 266. (3) By neglect, as by neglect to sell the goods at a fair price within a reasonable time, or, if they are perishable goods, before they are wasted; or a neglect to collect a doubtful debt which, by proper exertion, might have been collected. Bac. Abr. "Executors" (L). DEVENERUNT (Lat. devenire, to come to). A writ directed to the king's escheators when any of the king's tenants in capite dies, and when his son and heir dies within age, and in the king's custody, commanding the escheat, or that by the oaths of twelve good and lawful men they shall inquire what lands or tenements by the death of the tenant have come to the king. Dyer, 360; Termes de la Ley; Keilw. 199a; Blount; Cowell. DEVEST (Law Pr. devester, descester; Law Lat. devestire). In Old English Law. To take away; to deprive of, as a possession, title, or estate; the opposite of "invest." Termes de la Ley; Cowell. Sometimes written "divest," but "devest" has the support of the best authority. Co. Litt. 15a, 15b; Hale, Anal. § 32. See "Invest." In Modern Law. To take or draw away. "The whose estate was devested and drawn out of the feoffees." 4 Kent, Comm. 240. "The feoffment made by the feoffees devested all the estates." Id. To strip or deprive. "The statute devested the feoffees of all the estate." Id. 239. See "Vest."

The mismanagement and waste by an executor, administrator, or other trustee, of the estate and effects trusted to him as such, by which a loss occurs. Devastavit by direct abuse takes place when the executor, administrator, or trustee sells, embezzles, or converts to his own use goods intrusted to him; Com. Dig. Administration (I 1); Smith v. Ayer, 101 U. S. 327, 25 L. Ed. 955; releases a claim due to the estate; 3 Bacon, Abr. 700; Cro. Eliz. 43; De Diemar v. Van Wagenen, 7 Johns. (N. Y.) 404; Dawes v. Boylston, 9 Mass. 352, 6 Am. Dec. 72; or surrenders a lease; People v. Pleas, 2 Johns. Cas. (N. Y.) 376; 3 P, Wins. 330; Camp v. Smith, 68 N. C. 537; below its value. These instances sufficiently show that any wilful waste of the property will be considered a direct devastavit. See Lacoste v. Splivalo, 64 Cal. 35, 30 Pac. 571. Devastavit by mal-administration most frequently occurs by the payment of claims which were not due nor owing, or by paying others out of the order in which they ought to be paid, or by the payment of legacies before all the debts are satisfied; Thomas v. Riegel, 5 Rawle (Pa.) 266; Chapin v. Waters, 110 Mass. 195; Lewis v. Mason's Adm'r, 84 Va. 731, 10 S. E. 529. Devastavit by neglect. Negligence on the part of an executor, administrator, or trustee may equally tend to the waste of the estate as the direct destruction or mal-administration of the assets, and render him guilty of a devastavit. The neglect to sell the goods at a fair price, within a reasonable time, or, if they are perishable goods, before they are wasted, will be a devastavit; and a neglect to collect a doubtful debt which by proper exertion might have been collected will be so considered. Bacon, Abr. Executors, L. See Matter of Childs, 5 Misc. 560, 26 N. Y. Supp. 721; Baer's Appeal, 127 Pa. 360, 18 Atl. 1, 4 L. R. A. 609; Mills' Adm'r v. Talley's Adm'r, 83 Va. 361, 5 S. E. 368; Sterling v. Wilkinson, 83 Va. 791, 3 S. E. 533; Adkins v. Hutchings, 79 Ga. 260, 4 S. E. 887. The law requires from trustees good faith and due diligence, the want of which is punished by making them responsible for the losses which may be sustained by the property intrusted to them: when, therefore, a party has been guilty of a devastavit, he is required to make up the loss out of his own estate. See Com. Dig. Administration, I; Belt, Suppl. to Ves. 209; In re Strong's Estate, 160 Pa. 13, 28 Atl. 480; Franklin v. Low, 1 Johns. (N. Y.) 396; Bacon, Abr. Executors, L; 11 Toullier 58. The return of nulla bona testatoris nee propria and a devastavit to the writ of execution de bonis testatoris, in an action against an executor or administrator, is called a devastavit. Upon this return the plaintiff may forthwith sue out an execution in an action against him sued in his own right. This is not, however, a common use of the word; Brown, Diet. DEVENERUNT (Lat. devenire, to come to). A writ, now obsolete, directed to tbe king's escheators when any one of the king's tenants in capite dies, and when his son and heir dies within age and in the king's custody, commanding the escheat, or that by the oaths of twelve good and lawful men they shall inquire what lands or tenements by the death of the tenant have come to the king. Dy. 360; Keilw. 199 o; Blount; Cowell. DEVEST or DIVEST. To deprive, to take away; opposite to invest, which is to deliver possession of anything to another. Wharton.

devastaverunt, I I. He or they have wasted; waste or misapplication of the assets of a decedent by an executor or administrator; a return by a sheriff, in addition to return of nulla bona, to a writ of execution against an executor or administrator where the made

Lat. He has wasted. The act of an executor or administrator in wasting the goods of the deceased; mismanagement of the estate by which a loss occurs; a breach of trust or misappropriation of assets held in a fiduciary character; any violation or neglect of duty by an executor or administrator, involving loss to the decedent's estate, which makes him personally responsible to heirs, creditors, or legatees. Also, if plaintiff, in an action against an executor or administrator, has obtained judgment, the usual execution runs de bonis testatoris; but, if the sheriff returns to such a writ nulla bona testatoris nec propria, the plaintiff may, forthwith, upon this return, sue out an execution against the property or person of the executor or administrator, in as full a manner as in an action against him, sued in his own right. Such a return is called a "devastavit." Brown.

^ L. He has wasted.;he technical name for waste by an execuor or an administrator; occasionally, exravagance or misapplication of assets by ay trustee.' A wasting of assets; any act or omission, iuy mismanagement, by which the estate uflei-s loss.* A waste of the estate; as, payment by an executor if his private debt with assets, the payment not being Qtended to replace money advanced on account of lebts of the testator.' One who has reasonable ground to believe that a rustee is going to misapply assets can take no advanage of his own act of connivance.' The assets or their proceeds, as far as they may be raced into the hands of persons affected with notice pf the misapplication, may be followed and recovired.' See Bona, De bonis propriis.

Devastaverunt, I. (He or they have wasted.) The waste or misapplication of the assets of a decedent by the executor or administrator. On return of devastavit, a judgment debtor may sue out execution de bonis propriis against the executor.

[L. Lat. from devastare, to waste.] He has wasted. Waste by an executor or administrator; a mismanagement of the estate and effects of the deceased, in squandering and misapplying the assets contrary to the trust reposed in him.* Shep. Touch. 485. 2 Williams on Executors, 1629. 2 Oreenl. on Uvid. § 847 a.

In practice. A return made by a sheriff, (in addition to the return of nulla bona,) to a writ of execution against an executor or administrator, signifying that he has wasted the goods of the testator or intestate; upon which the plaintiff may have execution unmediately against the defendant personally, by fieri facias de bonis propriis. 2 Tidd's Pr. 1018, 1025. Shep. Touch. 486. 6 Co. 32. 8 Salk. 126. An entry or suggestion, on record, of waste by an executor or administrator, made on the part of a plaintiff, as the foundation of a new writ, or of an action of debt.* 2 Tidd's Pr. 1113, 1114. 6 Co. 32.