Barratry is an understanding of Anglo-Saxon law that deals primarily with abuse of procedural law by a second party (repeatedly) to be harassed by lawsuits. Misuse of procedural law
It may sometimes be attractive to threaten a party with a civil procedure. A counterparty may be cared for public face loss. It is also an effective method of hunting a counterparty, especially when it has less financial resources. In this way, a procedure may be abused as a threat or pressure device, or as a method of "bleeding a counterparty (eg a business competitor) in the courtroom financially."
Barratry as an abuse of procedural law stems from English law. Although England and Wales have decriminalized barratry in 1967, some US states are still punishable. If a judge honors a complaint in response to barratry, this may lead to inadmissibility of the proceedings, criminal sanctions against the lawyer and his client, and possibly disciplinary sanctions against the lawyer.
Not only the repeated prosecution against a party, but also the lightening of a procedure can be done under barratry. With this the potential is a weapon of defendants against (too intrusive) claimants.
Barratry, however, is interfering with the principle laid down in various treaties and constitutions that everyone should be able to gain access to justice. Barratry is still charged by defendants in contingency in the states where this is possible. In most cases this is an intimidation and a claim to barratry is rarely honored. Other meanings
Barratry also occurs in the maritime law, which aims at actions by a master of a ship that harms the interests of the ship's owner or the cargo.
Finally, with barratry goals, it is very difficult to seek clients by lawyers. These lawyers are often referred to as ambulance chasers (ambulance hunters). A common technique is to follow ambulances to an accident or hospital to approach relatives of victims to start a lawsuit. This is considered by the 'established' (transaction) lawyer, and this is therefore associated with 'light practices'.
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