COSTS, the technical name in English law for the expenses incurred in legal pro ceedings. As a general rule, the C. of the successful party are paid by the loser, but the rule is subject to important exceptions. 1. A party suing or defending Inforrnd pauperls (to entitle him to which privilege lie must swear that lie is not worth .4.:5), does notpay C., though he is entitled to receive them if successful. 2. In actions in which the plaintiff recovers damages under 40s., lie is. in certain cases, not entitled to C., unless the presiding judge certifies that he ought to have them; and in all other cases; he is not entitled to them, if the presiding judge certifies that he ought not to nave them. 3. A plaintiff who might have brought his action in the county court, is not entitled to C. if he sues in the higher courts, and recovers not more than £5 in certain actions, or £20 in others, unless the judge who tries the case certifies that it was proper the action should have been brought in the higher court. 4. A party who is successful in the main, and therefore entitled :o the "general costs," may be unsuccessful upon some minor point, and therefore bound to pay the C. which belong properly to it. 5. A party who has tendered the amount recovered, and who pays the sum into court, and pleads the tender, is not bound to pay costs. 0. The payment of money into court in the course of an action relieves the party paying from C. of subsequent proceedings, if no greater
amount be ultimately recovered.
C. formerly used to be given neither to nor against the crown, either in its fiscal, public, or private capacity; but by 18 and 19 Viet. c. 90, and 23 and 24 Viet. c. 34, the crown is now entitled to 0., and hound to pay C. in the same way as a private suitor.
C. are taxed (i.e., the items allowed or disallowed) by the officer of the court appointed for the purpose under the name of the master. When so ascertained, they are, if in favor of the plaintiff, included in the amount for which judgment is given, if it be in his favor, and recovered as part of it. If they are in favor of the defendant, they are recovered as a judgment in his favor; and any party may have, if he chooses, his own attorney's or solicitor's bill taxed by the same officer before paying it, or even after payment in certain cases.
In criminal cases, the prosecutor's C. may be allowed by the judge, and in that case are paid out of the county rates, the county being reimbursed by the treasury.
In chancery suits, C. are, in the discretion of the court, given as a general rule to the successful partyi but when the suit was properly instituted, and was of the nature of an administrative suit, C. are often given out of the estate.
C., in Scotland, are called expenses (q.v.). See also AUDITOR. OF TUE COURT OF SESSION.