Waste

Any squandering or misapplying of property by persons charged witii a trust or duty in respect to it, by which the property is lost or diminished in value; the destruction or material alteration of any part of a tenement by a tenant for life or for years, to the injury of the person entitled to the inheritance. Waste is voluntary or permissive, — voluntary, when actually committed; permissive, when it is the result of omission or neglect. It is legal or equitable, — legal, when such as a court of law may restrain; equitable, when "" such as a court of equity alone can restrain. It is double when committed for the repair of other waste.

In old English law

A prerogative or liberty on the part of the crown, of committing waste on the lands of felons, by pulling down their houses, extirpating their gardens, ploughing their meadows, and cutting down their woods.