misfeasance doing something, essentially legal, wrongly, as opposed to not doing something at all that should have been done (which is called non-feasance). A species of the tort is misfeasance in public office. Traditionally this was the case of directed malice intended to injure a person - the exercise of public power for an ulterior motive.
Novation A novation is an agreement made between two contracting parties to allow for the substitution of a new party for an existing one. The original contracting party who is replaced by the new party with the novation is excused by the novation, and therefore the original party who is replaced gives up any rights it has against the other original party to the contract. Both original contracting parties must agree to the novation.
Plural novae (nÅ'vÄ) or novas. A white dwarf star that suddenly and temporarily becomes extremely bright as a result of the explosion at its surface of material accreted from an expanding companion star.