TAXATION OF COSTS is the checking or reviewing of the charges made by attorneys or solicitors for legal business; and there is an officer of the court provided for the pur pose, called in England a master or a taxing-master, or a registrar, according to the nature of the court; in Scotland, he is called an auditor. Solicitors differ from all other professions in this, that they are treated as officers of the court, and they are not at lib erty to charge what prices they please for the various services they perform. Hence, every step in a suit has a certain value put upon it by the court, and the business of the taxing-officers is to see that this standard is not transgressed. There are many excep tional matters, however, which arise in every suit, which often cause difficulty in appor tioning a proper amount of remuneration, the taxing-officer having considerable discre tion. In consequence of a taxing-officer being provided by the court, it is a right which every client of a solicitor has, if not satisfied with the bill of costs delivered to him, to have it referred to the taxing-officer to be taxed. But in general, this must be done
without delay. If the taxing-officer certify that more than one-sixth too much has been charged, then not only is the client not bound to pay the excess, but the expense of the taxation must be borne also by the solicitor; whereas if less than one-sixth is taxed off, the client has to hear the expense of taxation. Not only are the expenses of a suit liable to taxation, but other kinds of miscellaneous business which a solicitor does as a soli citor. It has often of late been made matter of complaint that solicitors are not allowed to fix their own charges, or to agree with clients upon an arbitrary charge, or a charge by commission, the tendency of the present system being to make the solicitor anxious to eke out his remuneration by lengthening the proceedings, so as to make a basis for chargeable items; but the legislature has steadily rejected hitherto all attempts to abol ish the check provided by taxation.