champerty

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
champerty /ˈtʃampəti/

▶noun Law an illegal agreement in which a person with no previous interest in a lawsuit finances it with a view to sharing the disputed property if the suit succeeds.

– derivatives
champertous adjective.

– origin ME: from Anglo-Norman Fr. champartie, from OFr. champart ‘feudal lord's share of produce’, from L. campus ‘field’ + pars ‘part’.