estrepement

English

Etymology

Old French [Term?] (“damage, waste”)

Noun

estrepement (countable and uncountable, plural estrepements)

1. (law) A destructive kind of waste committed by a tenant for life, in lands, woods, or houses.
   • 176, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, book, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:

     And the writ of estrepement lay at the common law‥to stop any waste which the vanquished party might be tempted to commit.

References

• “estrepement”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.