The practices, behavior, or system of corruption characteristic of catchpolls; oppressive debt collection and law enforcement.
From 'catchpoll' + '-ery' suffix. Variant form of 'catchpolery' using the alternate 'catchpoll' spelling.
Different historians and regions used different spellings, so both 'catchpolery' and 'catchpollery' appear in historical texts. The fact that both forms exist shows how ubiquitous this corruption was—writers across areas and time periods needed the word.
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