Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/256

 248 CHAMPERTY CHAMPION hotly pursued by his comrades as a deserter, reached New York, underwent an examination before Sir Henry Clinton, and by him was consigned to Arnold, who gave him in the British army his former rank of sergeant major. He discovered Arnold's habit of walk- ing in his garden at a late hour every night, and formed a plan with a comrade to seize and gag him there, and to take him between them as a drunken companion to a boat on the Hudson, whence arrangements were made for his speedy transportation to the American headquarters. On the appointed night Arnold failed to appear in the garden, and Champe, after waiting for him till near morning, re- turned with chagrin tolas position in the Brit- ish army. It proved that Arnold had the day before changed his quarters, preparatory to the embarkation of his troops for Virginia. Champe embraced the first opportunity to es- cape to the American army, and joined the troops under Gen. Greene. Gen. Washington discharged him from further service, lest, fall- ing into the hands of the enemy, he should be hanged. When subsequently Washington sought for him to reward him for his faithful and dan- gerous service, he learned of his recent death in Kentucky. CHAMPERTY (Lat. campi partitio), an agree- ment between a party to a suit and some third person that the latter shall carry on the suit at his own expense, and in consideration thereof shall receive a portion of what is re- covered therein in case of a successful result. It diifers from maintenance in that in the latter case the question of compensation does not necessarily enter into the account. At the common law, not only was the agreement void, but the entering into it was a misde- meanor, and statutes were passed to punish cases analogous in character and in supposed mischief. Of late, however, the tendency has been to relax the old rules, from a conviction that, whatever may have been the case for- merly, the evils that might flow from such bar- gains are rather imaginary than real. By statute in some of the United States it is legal for a party to make such bargain with his at- torney as he may consider for his interest ; and judicial decisions have modified the old rules considerably where no such statutes exist. It was a very ancient rule of the common law that choses in action should not be assigned, the object of which rule was to prevent any champertious intermeddling with claims to be put in suit ; but courts of equity long since recognized the right of the assignee, and no other effect of the rule remained except that it was required that a suit at law should be brought in the name of the assignor. But this has now been abrogated in a number of the states, and assignees may sue at law in their own names, subject, however, to all legal de- fences and offsets which existed against the claim in the hands of the assignor at the time of notice of the assignment. CHAMPFLEURY, the popular name of JULES FLEDEY, a French author, born at Laon, Sept. 10, 1821. He is the son of a municipal officer, became clerk in a publishing house in Paris, described his literary and journalistic struggles in Confessions de Sylvius and Les aventures de Mariette, wrote Conies cThiver, de printemps, d'ete et d*automne, and acquired fame by his Chien-Caillou (1847), and by his pantomimes, which led in 1863 to his becoming director of the Funambules theatre. In 1848 he was one of the founders of the tenement news- paper, and in 1849 he wrote Les oies du Noel for Proudhon's Voix du Peuple. Prominent among his numerous works is Les bourgeois de Molinchart (1854), a satire on provincial life, which placed him at the head of the realistic school. A collection of his writings was pub- lished in 1857 under the title of (Euvres com- pletes (partly republished in his (Enures illus- trees), which has since been increased by many volumes, including his Histoire de la carica- ture antique et de la caricature moderne (2 vols., 1865; new ed., 1872). CHAMPION, a term derived from chivalry, and signifying one who undertakes to defend his cause by force of arms. Custom allows a wider latitude of application to the word. In the ruder stages of society, when might con- stituted right, the right was frequently sub- mitted to such an arbitrament. The two ele- ments which then chiefly entered into the so- cial system, namely, religion and love of mili- tary glory, both inclined toward a ceremony in which God should be called to indicate the righteousness of the cause by success in the trial by battle. Accordingly, we find from the earliest ages of feudalism the trial by private combat recognized as a legal mode of settling disputes. The trial came gradually to be hedged in by formalities, until it was only appealed to in cases of grave import. It is obvious that in many cases of personal encounter the disputants must be so unequally matched that they could not be pitted against each other with any chance of a fair result ; the law therefore per- mitted the plaintiff" or the defendant in cases of accusation to name a proxy or champion. Appeal to combat could be made in court martial, that is to say, in cases coming under the jurisdiction of the court of chivalry or honor, in appeals of felony, and in certain cases upon issue joined in a writ of right. Ladies and minors, being disqualified by reason of their physical incapacity, prosecuted their claims by a champion. The champion usually challenged his opponent by casting down his glove, which the latter accepted by taking it up. Combat was then joined, and carried on to the death, or till stopped by the judges. Ver- dict was given for the victorious party. It is from this custom that our modern phrase is derived, "to appeal to the God of battles." Judicial combat appears to be of Gothic origin. William the Norman introduced it into Eng- land, where it was practised as late as 1638.