Legal Definitions - extirpation

Extirpation refers to the deliberate and significant damage or destruction of land or property by an individual who no longer has a legal right to possess or use that land. It implies an intentional act of harm committed out of malice or spite, often after a right to the property has been terminated or lost.

Here are some examples to illustrate this legal concept:

• Imagine a tenant who has been legally evicted from a rental home due to repeated lease violations. Before the final move-out date, and out of anger, the tenant intentionally removes all the built-in kitchen appliances, smashes several windows, and pours cement down the plumbing drains, rendering the property uninhabitable.

  This scenario demonstrates extirpation because the tenant, having lost their legal right to occupy the property, deliberately caused extensive and malicious damage to the land and its fixtures.

• Consider a situation where a property owner defaults on their mortgage, leading to a foreclosure. After the court issues the final foreclosure order, but before the bank or a new buyer takes possession, the former owner intentionally cuts down all the mature fruit trees on the property, removes the entire fence line, and vandalizes the interior walls with spray paint.

  This is an act of extirpation because the individual, no longer having legal ownership or rights to the land, intentionally caused significant and destructive harm to the property.

• Suppose a landowner had granted a neighbor a temporary right-of-way easement across their private driveway for construction access. Once the construction project is complete and the easement legally expires, the neighbor, feeling inconvenienced by the termination, intentionally drives heavy machinery over the driveway multiple times, creating deep ruts and cracking the pavement.

  This illustrates extirpation because the neighbor, having lost their legal right to use the driveway, deliberately damaged the land out of spite.