WASTE, a term used in English law in several senses, of which four are the most important. (I) "Waste of a manor" is that part of a manor subject to rights of common, as distin guished from the lord's demesne (see COMMONS, MANOR). (2) "Year, day, and waste" was a part of the royal prerogative, ac knowledged by a statute of Edward II., De Praerogativa Regis. The king had the profits of freehold lands of those attainted of felony and petit treason, and of fugitives, for a year and a day with a right of committing waste in sense (3) thereon. After the expiration of a year and a day the lands returned to the lord of the fee. This species of waste was abolished by the Corruption of Blood Act 1814 (see FELONY, TREASON). (3) The most usual signification of the word is "any unauthorized act of a tenant, for a freehold estate not of inheritance, or for any lesser interest, which substantially alters the permanent character of the thing demised (i.) by diminishing its value, (ii.) by increasing the burden on it, (iii.) by impairing the evidence of title and thereby injuring the "inheritance" (West Ham Charity Board v. East London W .W 1900, I Ch. 624, 637; cf. Pollock on Torts, 357).
Waste in sense (3) is either voluntary or permissive. Volun tary waste is by act of commission, as by pulling down a house, wrongfully removing fixtures (q.v.), cutting down timber trees, i.e., oak, ash, elm, 20 years old, and such other trees, e.g., beech, as by special custom are counted timber in the district, opening new quarries or mines (but not continuing the working of exist ing ones), or doing anything which may—for this is the modern test—alter the nature of the thing demised, such as conversion of arable into meadow land. Although an act may technically be waste, it will not as a rule constitute actionable waste, or be restrained by injunction, in the absence of some prohibitive stipulation if it is "ameliorating," i.e., if it improves the value of the land demised (see Meux V. Cobley, 1892, 2 Ch. 253, 263). In the case of "timber estates" upon which trees of various kinds are cultivated solely for their produce and the profit gained from their periodical felling and cutting, the timber is not considered as part of the inheritance but as the annual fruits of the estate, and an exception arises in favour of the tenant for life (see Dash wood v. Magniac, 1891, 3 Ch. 306). Under the Settled Land Act
1925, a tenant for life may grant building, mining, forestry and other leases for the prescribed terms "for any purpose whatever, whether involving waste or not" (s. 41) and is also protected as regards waste, in the execution and repair of improvements (s. 89). Permissive waste is by act of omission, such as allowing buildings to fall out of repair. A "fermor"—a term which here includes "all who held by lease for life or lives, or for years by deed or without deed" by the statute of Marlborough not commit waste without licence in writing from the reversioner.
Acts of equitable waste were, before 1875, not cognizable in courts of common law. However, by the provisions of the Law of Property Act 1925 (s. 135) an equitable interest for life without impeachment of waste does not confer upon the tenant for life any right to commit equitable waste, unless an intention to confer such right expressly appears in the instrument creating the equitable interest. A copy-holder may not commit waste unless allowed to do so by the custom of the manor. The penalty for waste is forfeiture of the copyhold; Galbraith v. Poynton, 1905, 2 K.B. 258 (see COPYHOLD). The Agricultural Holdings Act 1923, by reason of provisions giving compensation for im provement as regards the holdings to which it applies, overrides some of the old common law doctrines as to waste.
(4) "Waste of assets" or "devastavit" is a squandering and misapplication of the estate and effects of a deceased person by his executors or administrators (see EXECUTORS AND ADMINIS TRATORS, and Administration of Estates Act 1925, S. 29). Exec utors and administrators may now be sued in the county court for waste of assets (County Courts Act 1888, s. 95).