Costs, the technical name in English law for the expenses incurred in legal proceedings. (In Scotland they are called Expenses, q.v.). Costs are either (1) between solicitor and client—i.e. the charges which a solicitor is entitled to recover from the person employing him as remuneration for professional services; or (2) between party and party—i.e. those which are allowed to the party succeeding in an action against his adversary. As a general rule, costs follow the event, and the costs of the successful party are paid by the loser; but the rule is subject to important exceptions. (1) A party suing or defending in formā pauperis does not pay costs, though he is entitled to receive them if successful. (2) In actions in which the plaintiff recovers damages under 10s., he is, in certain cases, not entitled to costs, 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 have them. (3) A plaintiff who might have brought his action in the county court is not entitled to costs if he sues in the higher courts, and recovers not more than £10 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 to the 'general costs,' may be unsuccessful upon some minor point, and therefore bound to pay the costs 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. (6) The payment of money into court in the course of an action relieves the party paying from costs of subsequent proceedings, if no greater amount be ultimately recovered.
In suits by and against the crown, the same rules concerning costs apply as in the case of private suits. In administrative proceedings, such as actions for the execution of trusts, or proceedings to ascertain the construction of a will, executors, trustees and others, who have properly or necessarily taken part in the proceedings, are allowed their costs out of the fund or estate involved. When any step in an action is put off at the request of one of the parties, that party is usually required to pay to the other the costs of the particular step. These are called 'costs of the day.' By the Judicature Act, 1875, it was enacted that the costs of all proceedings in the High Court shall be in the discretion of the court; and that where any action is tried by a jury the costs shall follow the event unless for cause shown the judge shall otherwise order.
Costs are taxed (i.e. the items allowed or disallowed) by the officer of the court appointed for the purpose under the name of the taxing-master; and any party may have, if he choose, his own attorney's or solicitor's bill taxed by the same officer.
In criminal cases, the prosecutor's costs may be allowed by the judge, and in that case are paid out of the county rates, the county being reimbursed by the Treasury; and on acquittal of a person indicted who has not been committed or held to bail, the court may order the prosecutor to pay costs to the accused if it think the prosecution unreasonable.
The English doctrine of allowing costs to the successful party generally prevails in the United States. The right to costs, and the rate of costs, is dependent upon statutes which must be strictly construed. The Federal Courts allow costs according to the rates allowed by state law, unless contrary to some act of congress, in which case the latter will prevail as against the state law. By act of congress in 1853 a Fee Bill was established regulating the costs in the Federal Courts. This act, by implication, denies costs to the losing party, which in some cases are allowed by the state laws. The rule of one state as to costs cannot be applied to cases involving contracts of that state litigated in another forum. If the cause is removed from the state to the Federal Courts, the parties are entitled to costs according to the state law prior to removal, and after removal under the act of congress.