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CHAMPERTY Definition & Legal Meaning

Definition & Citations:

A bargain made by a stranger with one of the parties to a suit, by which such third person undertakes to carry on the litigation at his own cost and risk, in consideration of receiving, if he wins the suit, a part of the land or other subject sought to be recovered by the action. Small v. Mott, 22 Wend. (N. Y.) 405; Jewel v. Neid.v, 01 Iowa. 299, 10 N. W. 141; Weakly v. Ilall, 13 Ohio, 175, 42 Am. Dec. 194; Poe v. Davis, 29 Ala. 0,83; Gilman v. Jones, 87 Ala. 691, 5 South. 785. 7 South. 48, 4 L. It. A. 113; Torrence v. Shedd, 112 111. 466; Casserleigh v. Wood, 119 Fed. 308, 50 C. C. A. 212. The purchase of an interest in a thing in dispute, with the object of maintaining and taking part in the litigation. 7 Bing. 378. The act of assisting the plaintiff or defendant in a legal proceeding in which the person giving the assistance has no valuable interest, on an agreement that, if the proceeding is successful, the proceeds shall be divided between the plaintiff or defendant, as the ease may be, and the assisting person. Sweet. Champerty is the carrying on a suit in the name of another, but at one’s own expense, with the view of receiving as compensation a certain share of the avails of the suit. Ogden v. Des Arts, 4 Duer (N. Y.) 275. The distinction between champerty and maintenance lies in the interest which the interfering party is to have in the issue of the suit. In the former case, he is to receive a share or portion of what may be recovered; in the latter case, he is in no way benefited by the success of the party aided, but simply CHAMPION 189 CHANCERY Intermeddlers officiously. Thus every champerty includes maintenance, but not every maintenance is champerty. See 2 Inst. 208; Stotsenburg v. Marks, 79 Ind. 190; Lytle v. State, 17 Ark. 624.

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