WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

criminal maintenance
    n 1: the unauthorized interference in a legal action by a person
         having no interest in it (as by helping one party with
         money or otherwise to continue the action) so as to
         obstruct justice or promote unnecessary litigation or
         unsettle the peace of the community; "unlike champerty,
         criminal maintenance does not necessarily involve personal
         profit" [syn: maintenance, criminal maintenance]