BARRATRY, COMNION, or, as it is called in old English law-books, barretry, is the offense of inciting and stirring up suits and quarrels among the queen's subjects One offen sive net of the kind is not sufficient in order to maintain an indictment for this offense; but it must be shown that the party accused frequently, or at least on more than one occasion, conducted himself in the way imputed; and therefore the principle of the law appears to strike at the habit or diario,vitiva of evil-minded persons, who would incite to quarreling, or busybodies, as they are in fact called in old law-reports; who to use a familiar expression. " set people by the ears." This term is supposed by some to be derived from the French word baerateur, which signifies it deceiver; by others, from the Latin word barratr(), a vile knave. Some, again. account for it by the suggestion that it is made up of Lame, the bars of courts of justice, and rettum, an old word signi fying an ollbnse; while, by oilier antiquarian lawyers it is supposed to have been bor rowed from the Normans; the Anglo-Norman buret signifying a quarrel or contention. In old English charging this Offease, the accused is not only described as pads domine regis perturbator, but also oppressor Ticinorum suorum; that la, he who is guilty of B., is not only a disturber of the public peace, but a nuisance to his neighbors. The punishment for this offense is fine and imprisonment; but if the offender belongs to the profession of the law, as is too frequently the case, he may besides be disabled from practicing his profession for the future. And, indeed, it is the existing statute law of
England. that if any one who has been convicted of B. shall practice as an solicitor, or agent in any suit, the court, upon complaint, shall examine the matter in a summary way; and if the fact of such conviction be proved; may direct such offending attorney, solicitor, or agent to be kept in penal servitude for not more than seven or lest than three years.
Akin to this offense is another of equal malignity and mischief; namely, that of suing another in the name of a fictitious plaintiff. If committed in any of the superior courts, this offense is treated as a high contempt, punishable at discretion, and in inferior courts, by six months' imprisonment, and treble damages to the party injured.
B., in the sense above explained, is not a technical term in the law of Scotland. But in that system there is a word baratry, which is defined as the crime committed by a judge who is induced by a bribe to pronounce a judgment, or who barters justico for money.
There is also baratry of mariners, which signifies—in the law not only of England and Scotland, but also of France and other European states—the fraud of the master or mariners of a ship tending to their own advantage, but to the prejudice of the owners. Such conduct, however, is one of those risks which are usually insured against in marine pellicles of insurance. See IxstrieNcE.