WASTE. 



WATER. 



722 



so placed that the balls rub against it and against each other, and it is 

 thus washed without the hand being applied to it. The credit claimed 

 for this machine is, that the pressure being slight and temporary, fine 

 fabrics are not injured ; moreover, *' it tears off no buttons." Another 

 American machine has wooden contrivances intended to represent, in 

 action if not in appearance, the knuckles of a laundress ; the theory 

 of the machine is, that the proper result can be obtained without 

 wearing away human fingers. 



WASTE, says Coke (Co. Litt., 53), " vastum dicitur a vastando, of 

 wasting and depopulating ; " but he gives no further definition. The 

 notion of waste seems to be when a tenant for years, by the courtesy, 

 by dower, or for life, so deals with land, or such things as are attached 

 to the soil, as to destroy them or greatly damage them. Accordingly, 

 the old action of waste lay against such tenants by him who had the 

 immediate estate of inheritance. 



Waste is either voluntary, which is an act of commission, or permissire, 

 which is a matter of omission only. Voluntary waste chiefly consists 

 in felling timber-trees, pulling down houses, or permanently altering 

 any part of a house, in opening new mines or quarries, in changing the 

 course of husbandry, and in the destruction of heir-looms. Permissi% - e 

 waste consists chiefly in allowing the buildings upon an estate to go to 

 decay. It is a general rule that the waste which arises from the act of 

 God is excuseable, as if a house falls in consequence of a tempest. 

 But if the destruction of the house by the tempest has been owing to 

 its being out of repair, the tenant is guilty of waste ; and so he will be 

 if he do not repair a house which has been uncovered or damaged only 

 by a tempest. In the game manner, if the banks of a river, while in a 

 state of proper repair, are destroyed by a sudden flood, the tenant is 

 not answerable. (1 ' Inst./ 53 a, b.) The rule applies also to the case 

 of a house burnt down by accident. But in these and all similar cases 

 the tenant will still be bound to repair or rebuild, if he has entered 

 into a general covenant to repair. 



Tenants in tail, as they have estates of inheritance, are entitled to 

 commit every kind of waste ; but this power continues and can be 

 exercised only during the life of the tenant in tail. When it is said 

 that a tenant in tail may commit every kind of waste, the meaning is 

 that he can do those acts to the land which tenants who have not an 

 estate of inheritance cannot do. A mortgagee in fee in possession has 

 a right at law to commit any kind of waste, being then considered as 

 the absolute owner of the inheritance ; but he will be restrained by a 

 court of equity, which will direct an account of timber cut down, and 

 order it to be applied in reduction of the mortgage debt. (2 Vern. 

 392.) Copyholders cannot, unless there be a special custom to warrant 

 it, commit any kind of waste, and every species of waste not warranted 

 by the custom of the manor operates as a forfeiture of the copyhold. 

 (13 'Rep.,' 68.) 



The original remedy for waste was that under the statute of Marl- 

 bridge, 52 Henry III., c. 24, which gave to the owner of the inheritance 

 an action of waste against the tenant for life, in which he was entitled 

 to recover full damages for the waste committed. But as this remedy 

 was often found inadequate, it was enacted by the statute of Gloucester, 

 ii IMw. I., c. 5, that the place wasted should be recovered, together 

 with treble damages for the injury done to the inheritance. No person 

 was entitled to an action of waste against the tenant for life under 

 these statutes except him who had the estate of inheritance imme- 

 diately expectant on the determination of the estate for life ; so that 

 if there were an existing estate of freehold interposed between the 

 estate for life and that of inheritance, the right of action was sus- 

 pended. (1 ' Inst.,' 53, b.) The action of waste had long given way to 

 the much more expeditious and easy remedy by an action of trespass 

 on the case in the nature of waste, which may be brought by the 

 person in reversion or remainder for life or for years, as well as in fee, 

 and in which the plaintiff is entitled to costs, which he could not have 

 in an action of waste (2 Saund., 252, n. 7) ; and the writ of waste is 

 now finally abolished by the 344 Win. IV., c. 27, s. 36. It seems 

 that there was formerly no remedy for mere permissive waste after the 

 death of the tenant, though if the estate of the tenant was benefited 

 by the injury inflicted, as if money was derived to it from the sale of 

 trees cut down, an action for the value of the property might have 

 been sustained against the executor. (Cowp. 376.) Now, however, by the 

 3 & 4 Wm. IV., c. 52, s. 2, remedies by action of trespass or trespass on 

 the case are given against the executors of any deceased person for any 

 wrong committed by him in his lifetime against the real or personal 

 property of another within six mouths of his death, provided the 

 action be brought within six months after the personal representatives 

 have taken upon themselves the administration of the estate. 



But the most complete remedy in cases of waste is that in the Court 

 of Chancery, which, upon application to it by bill, will not only direct 

 an account to be taken and satisfaction to be made for the damage 

 done, but will interpose by way of injunction to restrain the com- 

 mission of future waste. A court of equity will grant its assistance 

 against the commission of waste wherever the case appears to require 

 it, even though the plaintiff is not in a condition to maintain an action 

 at law. The court will also grant an injunction against waste pendmtc 

 lite ; and in such cases it is not necessary that the plaintiff should wait 

 till waste is actu.illy committed ; it is sufficient if an intention to com- 

 mit waste appears, or if the defendant insists upon his right to do so. 



It has long been usual, when estates for life are expressly limited, to 



ABTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. VIII. 



insert a clause declaring that the tenant shall hold the lands " without 

 impeachment of waste." These words were originally intended merely 

 to exempt the tenant from the penalties of the statute of Marlbridge, 

 though it has long been settled that they enable him to cut down 

 timber and to convert it to his own use ; but he may be restrained in 

 equity from committing malicious waste so as to destroy the estate, or 

 cutting down timber which serves for shelter or ornament to a 

 mansion-house, or timber unfit to be felled. This is what is called the 

 doctrine of Equitable Waste. The privileges of the tenant for life 

 nder the words " without impeachment of waste " are annexed in 

 privity to his estate, and determine with it. Thus it seems that if a 

 lease were made to one for the life of another without impeachment u 

 waste, with remainder to him for his own life, he would become 

 punishable for waste, the first estate being merged in the second 

 (11 'Rep.,' 83, b.) 



Ecclesiastical persons, who hold lands in right of a church, aro 

 disabled from committing waste, though, like other tenants for lit'e, 

 they have the right to take from the land materials for necessary 

 repairs. They may not only fell timber and dig stones for that pur- 

 pose, but have even been allowed to sell timber or stone, when the 

 money was to be applied in repairs ; also, though they cannot open 

 mines, they may work those already open. (Amb. 176.) Ecclesiastical 

 persons may be proceeded against for waste in the civil as well as the 

 ecclesiastical courts, as au action will lie against them for dilapidations, 

 and may be brought by the successor to a benefice either against his 

 predecessor or his personal representatives. And the Court of Chancery 

 will grant an injunction against any ecclesiastical pel-son whatsoever to 

 stay waste in cutting down timber, pulling down houses, or opening 

 quarries or mines on the glebe. An injunction has, indeed, been 

 granted against waste by the widow of a rector during the vacancy of 

 the living. (2 Bro. cc. 5, 62.) By the 56 Geo. III. c. 52, the incum- 

 bents of benefices are enabled to cut down timber on the glebe-lands for 

 the purposes of the statute (55 Geo. III.) enabling them to exchange 

 their parsonage-houses or glebe-lands. 



Tenants in tail and tenants in fee have the inheritance in the land, 

 and they are the real owners. Those who have less estates are in the 

 situation of the Roman Usufructuarius. [UsiiFRVCTUS.] 



WASTE LAND. [BuRREN LAND.] 



WATCH. [HOROLOGY.] 



WATCH A_ND WARD is the ancient provision for the maintenance 

 of the public peace and of property in towns : watc/uny relates to the 

 night, ward to the day. 



The duty of keeping watch and ward no doubt prevailed in Anglo- 

 Saxon times, although it is usually stated to have been imposed by 

 the statute of Winchester (13 Edward I., c. 4). The words of the 

 statute are : " And henceforth it ia commanded that watches be made 

 as formerly they were accustomed to be ; that is to say, from Ascen- 

 sion-day to Michaelmas-day, in every city, by six men at each gate, in 

 every borough by twelve men, in every open town by six or four men, 

 according to the number of inhabitants ; and that they watch all the 

 night from sunset to sunrise. And if any stranger pass by them, he 

 shall be arrested until morning ; and if [no cause of J suspicion be 

 found, he shall go quit." Then follow provisions for delivering him to 

 the sheriff if the watch find cause of suspicion, and for raising the hue- 

 and-cry on him from town to town if he escape. A subsequent act 

 (5 Edward III., c. 14) extends to the day these powers of arresting 

 suspected persons ; and in reciting the previous act, this later statute 

 treats it as applying to the country generally ; but seems to limit the 

 power of arrest to constables. The statute 5 Henry IV., c. 3, extends 

 to the sea-coast the provisions of the statute of Winchester, and 

 (like it) seems only to revive an ancient custom which had fallen into 



(li-'l.il-. 



The duty of keeping watch is imposed upon every inhabitant of a 

 town in turn, at the call of the constable. The watchman must be 

 suitably armed, and women or infirm persons must find substitutes. 

 Not to keep watch in his turn, or not to find a sufficient substitute, 

 is an offence for which the party may be indicted at the sessions of 

 the peace, and may be punished by fine and otherwise. 



Another class of watchmen, having like powers and duties to 

 the former, is that appointed for the preservation of the peace. 

 [CONSTABLE, POLICE.] 



WATER (HO). (Chemistry.) Water, as it occurs in nature, has 

 already been treated of in the NATURAL HISTORY DIVISION of this 

 Cyclopaedia ; its physical properties in the three states of gas [STEAM ; 

 VAPOUR, OPALESCENT]; liquid [\VATKB, following article]; and solid 

 [ICE] ; have also been separately described in the present Division ; so 

 that it is now only necessary to consider it from what may be termed a 

 chemical point of view. 



Water is a chemical combination of the two elements oxygen and 

 hydrogen. When a jet of hydrogen is burnt in an atmosphere of oxy- 

 gen, or vice versd, water is formed, and condenses on and trickles down 

 any cool surface that may be near. A compound of hydrogen, when 

 burned in the air, also eliminates that element in the form of aqueous 

 vapour. A cold plate held for a few moments in or over the flame of a 

 caudle, oil-lamp, or gas-jet, is soon bedewed with moisture, which may 

 be collected and proved to be water. Conversely, water may be madu 

 to yield up its elements. Exposed to a temperature above the melting 

 point of platinum, it is resolved into its elements. Passed in the 



3 A 



