spoliation

noun spoliations

1. archaic, uncountable 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: […]

   Similar: deprivation, despoliation, exspoliation, plundering, rapine, spoil

2. broadly, uncountable 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
3. broadly, historical, uncountable 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: […]
4. broadly, countable, historical 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. broadly, uncountable 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
6. broadly, uncountable 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.
7. broadly, historical, uncountable 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 innumer