next friend

American  

noun

Law.

1. a person other than a duly appointed guardian who acts on behalf of an infant or other person not fully qualified by law to act on their own behalf.

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next friend British  

noun

1. Official name: litigation friend.  law (formerly) a person acting on behalf of an infant or other person under legal disability

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Etymology

Origin of next friend

before 900; Middle English; Old English

Example Sentences

Why not invite your next friend who reaches out to walk along Alki or Seward Park instead?

From Seattle Times • Jan. 31, 2017

Technically hired as counsel by Edelman who claimed legal status as "next friend" of the Rosenbergs, the two lawyers developed a special argument.

From Time Magazine Archive

In a rise which thus has more of Dale Carnegie than Horatio Alger in it, the next friend whom Ed Stettinius won and influenced was U.S.

From Time Magazine Archive

Nay, John Ireton, you need not fear me, though I am just now this redcoat captain's next friend.

From The Master of Appleby A Novel Tale Concerning Itself in Part with the Great Struggle in the Two Carolinas; but Chiefly with the Adventures Therein of Two Gentlemen Who Loved One and the Same Lady by Lynde, Francis

When self-love is thus satisfied, remember social virtue is the next duty, and tell your next friend where he may go and obtain the same relief, by the same means.

From The Surprising Adventures of Bampfylde Moore Carew King of the Beggars; containing his Life, a Dictionary of the Cant Language, and many Entertaining Particulars of that Extraordinary Man by Unknown