Champerty

champarty. Tlie maintenance of another in his suits upon condition to have part of the thing in dispute, when it is recovered. In the modern sense of the word, champerty is the purcliase of a suit or right of suing, or rather the purchase of an interest in a thing in dispute, with the object of maintaining and taking part in the litigation. It is a species of maintenance, i. e. it is maintenance with an agreement to divide the thing in suit superadded. The rule has been much modified in some of the states, in some of which a purchase of a right of action or of land from a person out of possession is no longer champertous. v. Maintenance.