A species of ecclesiastical waste which occurs whenever the incumbentsuffers any edifices of his ecclesiastical living to go to ruin or decay. It is either voluntary, by pulling down, or permissive , by suffering the church, parsonagehouses,and other buildings thereunto belonging, to decay. And the remedy for eitherlies either In the spiritual court, where the canon law prevails, or in the courts of commonlaw. It is also held to be good cause of deprivation if the bishop, parson, or otherecclesiastical person dilapidates buildings or cuts down timber growing on thepatrimony of the church, unless for necessary repairs; and that a writ of prohibition willalso lie against him in the common-law courts . 3 Bl. Comm. 91.The term is also used, in the law of landlord and tenant, to signify the neglect ofnecessary repairs to a building, or suffering it to fall into a state of decay, or the pullingdown of the building or any part of it. Dilationes in lege snnt odiosae. Delays in law are odious. Branch, Princ.
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
