Writ of waste. A writ which might be brought by him who had the immediate estate of Inheritance in reversion or remainder, against the tenant for life, in dower, by curtesy, or for years, where the latter had committed waste in lands; calling upon the tenant to appear and show cause why he committed waste and destruction in the place named, to the disinherison (ad exhasredationem) of the plaintiff. Fitzh. Nat Brev. 55, C; 3 Bl. Comm. 227, 228. Abolished by St 8 A 4 Wm. IV. c. 27. 3 Steph. Comm. 500.
DE VASTO
TheLaw.com Law Dictionary & Black's Law Dictionary 2nd Ed.