spoliation

noun

Etymology: From Late Middle English spoliacioun (“looting, robbery, theft; an instance of this; (ecclesiastical) wrongful deprivation of the emoluments of a benefice due to another”), from Anglo-Norman spoliacioun, espolïacion, and directly from their etymon spoliātiō (“plundering, robbing”), from spoliāre (“to deprive or strip of clothing or covering, unclothe, uncover; (by extension) to pillage, plunder; etc.”), from spolium (“hide or skin stripped off an animal; (by extension) booty, spoil; etc.”). The English word was probably also influenced by French spoliation.

1. The action of spoliating, or forcibly seizing property; pillage, plunder; also, the state of having property forcibly seized; (countable) an instance of this; a robbery, a seizure.

   “The weapons of the empire had been […] an unequalled genius for organization, and an uniform system of external law and order. This was generally a real boon to conquered nations, because it substituted a fixed and regular spoliation for the fortuitous and arbitrary miseries of savage warfare: […]”

   “How many people out of the suit, Jarndyce and Jarndyce has stretched forth its unwholesome hand to spoil and corrupt, would be a very wide question. […] In trickery, evasion, procrastination, spoliation, botheration, under false pretences of all sorts, there are influences that can never come to good.”

2. The action of destroying or ruining; destruction, ruin.

   “Marks of violence were visible in every part; a cupboard had been forced open, and the contents of a chest of drawers were scattered about the room. The shop bore even more evident signs of spoliation—that reckless wastefulness which seems the constant companion of cruelty; but little of the grocery appeared to have been touched, excepting the sweet things.”

   “There is much sad evidence, too, of the spoliation and dereliction of vanished industry: tips, slag-heaps and derelict colliery-screens among which the ubiquitous, nomad mountain sheep graze unconcernedly.”

3. The action of an incumbent (“holder of an ecclesiastical benefice”) wrongfully depriving another of the emoluments of a benefice.

   “A Benefice is ſaid to be vacant de Facto, and not de Jure, vvhen the Poſſeſſion thereof is loſt by Spoliation or Intruſion, and the like: […]”

   “Spoliation is an injury done by one clerk or incumbent to another, in taking the fruits of his benefice vvithout any right thereunto, but under a pretended title. It is remedied by a decree to account for the profits ſo taken. […] [A] patron firſt preſents A to a benefice, vvho is inſtituted and inducted thereto; and then, upon pretence of a vacancy, the ſame patron preſents B to the ſame living, and he alſo obtains inſtitution and induction. Novv if A diſputes the fact of the vacancy, then that clerk vvho is kept out of the profits of the living, vvhichever it may be, may ſue the other in the ſpiritual court for ſpoliation, or taking the profits of his benefice.”

4. A lawsuit brought or writ issued by an incumbent against another, claiming that the latter has wrongfully taken the emoluments of a benefice.

   “[W]here one ſaith to the Patron, that his Clerk is dead, whereupon he preſents another: there the firſt Incumbent, who was ſuppoſed to be dead, may have a Spoliation againſt the other.”

5. The intentional destruction of, or tampering with, a document so as to impair its evidentiary value.

   “Plaintiff, a child injured during birth, alleges that defendant hospital intentionally destroyed evidence relevant to his malpractice action against the hospital. He seeks to bring a separate tort cause of action against defendant hospital for its alleged intentional spoliation—that is, intentional destruction or suppression—of evidence. […] [W]e conclude that when the alleged intentional spoliation is committed by a party to the underlying cause of action to which the evidence is relevant and when the spoliation is or reasonably should have been discovered before the conclusion of the underlying litigation, it is preferable to reply on existing nontort remedies rather than creating a tort remedy.”

6. The systematic forcible seizure of property during a crisis or state of unrest such as that caused by war, now regarded as a crime; looting, pillage, plunder; (countable) an instance of this.

   “Spoliation of Jewish property by Nazi authorities occurred on a large scale during World War II.”

   “We propose at this time to present evidence disclosing what the conspirators intended to do with conquered territories, called by them Lebensraum, after they had succeeded in overpowering the victims of their aggressions. We have broadly divided this subject into two categories: Germanization and spoliation. […] By spoliation, we mean the plunder of public and private property and, in general, the exploitation of the people and the natural resources of occupied countries.”

7. The government-sanctioned action or practice of plundering neutral ships at sea; (countable) an instance of this.

   “Immediately after the rupture with Great Britain in February, 1793, France, by waging war with nearly all Europe, and while oppressed by famine and the starving policy of England, commenced her spoliations on our commerce. Our ships were plundered as well by the armed vessels of France as by innumerable privateers, equipped for the purpose of supplying France with provisions from the only resource left her, the commerce of neutral nations.”