A plaintiff who goes takes his case to trial has no right to costs until an order is made, but if an order is made the court shall order that they follow the event unless in the circumstances of the case some other order should be made. It is only conduct connected with or leading up to the litigation proved before the judge or observed by him during the progress of the case which can provide a proper basis for the exercise of his discretion. It was not permissible for a court to put upon a statute giving unfettered discretion a gloss which would lead to frustration of its obvious purpose but the discretion must be exercised judicially and therefore must be based on some grounds, for a discretion exercised on no grounds cannot be judicial.
Judges:
Viscount Cave LC
Citations:
[1927] AC 732, [1927] All ER 1
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Lamont v Burton CA 9-May-2007
The defendant had settled the claim for damages for personal injury. His payment in had been rejected, but the claimant won a smaller sum at trial. He now argued that the claimant should not receive the full 100% costs uplift provided.
Held: . .
Cited – Perinpanathan, Regina (on The Application of) v City of Westminster Magistrates Court and Another CA 4-Feb-2010
The appellant’s daughter had been stopped entering the country with andpound;150,000 in cash. The police sought an order for its forfeiture, suspecting a link with terrorism. The magistrates found no evidence of such, and declined to make the order, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Costs
Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.253430