Barratry

In its legal, non-maritime sense, the offense of habitually and persistently instigating, encouraging or maintaining groundless or vexatious lawsuits or other litigation, most often for the purpose of harassment, profit, or personal gratification rather than the vindication of a genuine legal grievance, historically prosecuted as a common law offense in England and, in a smaller number of American states that retain it, as a statutory offense typically applied to a person who repeatedly files frivolous claims or, in the case of an attorney, improperly solicits clients to bring unnecessary litigation. The term is distinct from the older and separate maritime law meaning of barratry, referring to a ship's master or crew committing a fraudulent or grossly negligent act against the ship's owner or cargo interests, a usage this entity does not cover.