champerty

cham·per·ty  (chmpr-t)

n. pl. cham·per·ties

A sharing in the proceeds of a lawsuit by an outside party who has promoted the litigation.

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[Middle English champartie, from Old French champart, the lord's share of the tenant's crop, from Medieval Latin campars, camppars : Latin camp, genitive of campus, field + Latin pars, part; see part.]

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champer·tous (-ts) adj.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

champerty - an unethical agreement between an attorney and client that the attorney would sue and pay the costs of the client's suit in return for a portion of the damages awarded; "soliciting personal injury cases may constitute champerty" actus reus, wrongful conduct, misconduct, wrongdoing - activity that transgresses moral or civil law; "he denied any wrongdoing" law, jurisprudence - the collection of rules imposed by authority; "civilization presupposes respect for the law"; "the great problem for jurisprudence to allow freedom while enforcing order"