Qui tam

In English Common Law a Writ of qui tam had a court order, according to which a private person assisting a law that any fine or a part thereof is entitled. The name comes from the Latin qui tam pro domino formula brisk quam pro se ipso in hac parte sequitur, meaning " [ he ] complains in this matter to the Lord as king [ as ] for himself."

The writ ran in England and Wales as a result of the Common Informers Act 1951 disuse. The laws of the United States looks qui tam rules in some over a hundred years old provisions:

• The False Claims Act, 31 United States Code § 3729 et seq allows a private " whistleblower, " the fraud by contractors of the Federal Government indicates in this (eg by over-invoicing ) to get around 15 to 25 percent of the applied amount of compensation.
• Other less frequently used qui tam rules can be found in 18 USC 962 concerning the arming of vessels against friendly States, 25 USC 201 concerning violations of Indian protection laws, 46 USC 723 concerning the removal of undersea treasures from Florida abroad, and 35 USC 292 concerning the placing of false patent notices.

The latter qui tam provision concerning patent notices was declared in February 2011 by a federal district court as unconstitutional because they unduly into sole discretion put the decision to prosecute private.