When it appears that wood and timber standing on land, the use and improvement of which belongs, for life or otherwise, to a person other than the owner of the fee in the land, have ceased to improve by growth, or ought for any cause to be cut, the superior court may on petition appoint a trustee, and authorize and empower the trustee to sell and convey the wood and timber, to be cut and carried away within a time to be limited in the order of sale, and to hold, invest, reinvest, and change the investment of the proceeds thereof, after paying therefrom the expenses of the sale, and to pay over the income, above the taxes and other expenses of the trust, to the person entitled to the use and improvement while his or her right thereto continues, and, at the expiration of the right, to pay the principal sum to the owner of the land. When wood and timber have been cut as provided by this section, no more shall be cut on the land by the person entitled to the use and improvement without permission from the court. When a sale is authorized under this section, the trustee shall give, to the person as the court shall designate, a bond for the use and benefit of the persons interested in the proceeds of the sale, with condition for the faithful discharge of the trust; and the court may from time to time remove the trustee and appoint another in his or her stead, or fill a vacancy in the trusteeship whenever occasion may require.

History of Section.
G.L. 1896, ch. 201, § 12; C.P.A. 1905, §§ 1220, 1229; G.L. 1909, ch. 252, § 12; G.L. 1923, ch. 296, § 12; G.L. 1938, ch. 433, § 6; G.L. 1956, § 34-4-6.