Talk:qui tam
Latest comment: 2 years ago by Equinox in topic Missing obsolete slang sense?
Missing obsolete slang sense?[edit]
John Camden Hotten's Slang Dictionary (1873) has:
- Qui-tam, a solicitor. He who, i.e., “he who, as much for himself as for the King,” seeks a conviction, the penalty for which goes half to the informer and half to the Crown. The term would, therefore, with greater propriety, be applied to a spy than to a solicitor.