Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

equitable waste

An abuse of the privilege of nonimpeachability for waste at common law, for which equity will restrain the commission of willful, destructive, malicious, or extravagant waste; esp., waste caused by a life tenant who, although ordinarily not responsible for permissive waste, flagrantly damages or destroys the property. "A life tenant with the benefit of an express exemption from liability for voluntary waste will nevertheless be restrained in equity from committing acts of flagrant destruction to the premises; hence the (seemingly paradoxical) term, equitable waste'. A life tenant who has engaged in, or who threatens to engage in, reprehensible acts of voluntary waste will not be permitted unconscientiously to shield behind his legal right to commit waste to the detriment of those next entitled to en