Crossword clues for champerty
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Champerty \Cham"per*ty\, n. [F. champart field rent, L. campipars; champ (L. campus) field + part (L. pars) share.]
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Partnership in power; equal share of authority. [Obs.]
Beaut['e] ne sleighte, strengthe ne hardyness, Ne may with Venus holde champartye.
--Chaucer. -
(Law) The prosecution or defense of a suit, whether by furnishing money or personal services, by one who has no legitimate concern therein, in consideration of an agreement that he shall receive, in the event of success, a share of the matter in suit; maintenance with the addition of an agreement to divide the thing in suit. See Maintenance.
Note: By many authorities champerty is defined as an agreement of this nature. From early times the offence of champerty has been forbidden and punishable.
Wiktionary
n. (context legal English) investing money into an individual’s law suit.
Usage examples of "champerty".
Then he leaned back in his antique swivel chair, locked his hands behind his head, elevated his long legs luxuriously, and crossed his feet upon the fourth volume of the American and English Encyclopedia of Law, which lay open upon the desk at Champerty and Maintenance.