Barratry

Barratry, or Barretry, the offence of frequently inciting and stirring up suits and quarrels between Her Majesty's subjects, either at law or otherwise. The punishment is by fine and imprisonment, and if the offender belong to either branch of the legal profession (as is very often the case) he may be disbarred, or struck off the rolls of the Courts. By an Act passed in the twelfth year of the reign of George I. (c. 29), it was enacted that if anyone who hath been convicted of forgery, perjury, subornation of perjury, or common barratry, shall practise as solicitor or agent in any action, the Court upon Complaint shall examine the case in a summary way, and on proof the offender may now be sentenced to penal servitude for not more than seven or less than five years. Barratry also specially signifies any act of the master or mariners of a ship which is of a criminal or fraudulent nature, and affecting the owners of the ship, such as desertion of the ship or embezzling the cargo. The term in the above sense is not known in Scots law, but Barratry in Scotland is the offence of a judge who has accepted a bribe from either party to a suit in order to induce his judgment in their favour.