Barratry or Barretry

Qui fait barat, barat lui vient (French). With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. Barratry is false faith to one’s employers. It is a sea term, and means the commission of a fraud on the owners or insurers of a ship by the captain or the crew. The fraud may consist of many phases, such as deserting the ship, sinking her, falsifying her cargo, etc. The French have other proverbs to the same effect: as, La tricherie revient presque toujours à son maître. “He made a pit and … is fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head.” (Psalm vii. 14, 15, 16.)

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