History
Qui tam actions were first used in 13th century England as a way to enforce the King's laws. They existed in the United States in colonial times, and were embraced by the first U.S. Congress as a way to enforce the laws when the new federal government had virtually no law enforcement officers. The False Claims Act was passed in 1863 during the U.S. Civil War, but was substantially weakened in 1943 during World War II while the government rushed to sign large military procurement contracts. It was strengthened again in 1986 after a period of military expansion at a time when there were many stories of defense contractor price gouging. Since then, qui tam provisions have helped recover more than $27 billion in taxpayer money.
The practice fell into disrepute in England in the 19th century by which time it was principally used to enforce laws related to Christian Sunday observance. It was brought to an effective end by the Common Informers Act 1951 but, in 2007, there were proposals to introduce legal provision on the U.S. model back to the United Kingdom.
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