Champerty & Maintenance

Champerty and maintenance are doctrines in common law jurisdictions that aim to preclude frivolous litigation.

Maintenance

Maintenance is the intermeddling of a disinterested party to encourage a lawsuit. It is: "A taking in hand, a bearing up or upholding of quarrels or sides, to the disturbance of the common right."

This is when an unrelated third party provides material, usually financial, support for a lawsuit, especially in the form of promising to fund a suit in order for it to be brought about. This typically involves a third party funding one or more frivolous suits against a defendant they would see financially burdened e.g. a competing business.

Champerty

Champerty (from Old French champart) is the financial support, by a party not naturally concerned in the suit, of a plaintiff that allows them to prosecute a lawsuit on condition that, if it be brought to a successful issue, the plaintiff will repay them with a share of the proceed from the suit.

This is essentially Maintenance for profit, providing material support for a case in return for a cut of the awards.