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Lawfare is the use of legal systems and institutions to damage or delegitimize an opponent, or to deter an individual's usage of their legal rights.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

The term may refer to the use of legal systems and principles against an enemy, such as by damaging or delegitimizing them, wasting their time and money (e.g., SLAPP suits), or winning a public relations victory.

Alternatively, it may describe a tactic used by repressive regimes to label and discourage civil society or individuals from claiming their legal rights via national or international legal systems. This is especially common in situations when individuals and civil society use nonviolent methods to highlight or oppose discrimination, corruption, lack of democracy, limiting freedom of speech, violations of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law.

^ History of Lawfare, Dunlap, 2001
^ Kittrie, Orde F. (1 February 2016), "Conclusion", Lawfare, Oxford University Press, pp. 329–344, doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190263577.003.0009, ISBN 978-0-19-026357-7
^ "Is Lawfare Worth Defining?" (PDF). Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law. 43 (1). 11 September 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 August 2011.
^ Unrestricted Warfare, p. 55 Archived 19 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine