Price v. Garland
Price v. Garland
Opinion of the Court
This case was decided at a former term, and the judgment below reversed, and the cause remanded for further proceedings. The clerk taxed the costs against the appellee, as directed in general terms by the judgment of reversal, but in so doing he embraced in the bill of costs several large items of expense by appellant in perfecting and docketing his appeal in this court. The items sought by the motion to be stricken out of the taxed cost bill are: First, the cost of printing the record; second, the cost of printing appellant’s brief; third, the amount paid the stenographer for transcribing his notes of the evidence,
At first, by the common law, no costs were awarded to either party eo nomine. If the plaintiff failed to recover, he was amerced pro falso clamo re; if he recovered judgment, the defendant was in misericordia for his unjust detention of the plaintiff’s debt, and was not, therefore, punished with the expensa litis under that title. But, this being considered a great hardship, the statute of Gloucester (6 Edw. 1, c. 1) was passed, which gave costs in all cases when the plaintiff recovered damages. This was the origin of cost de incremento; for, when the damages were found by the jury, the judges held themselves obliged to tax the moderate fees of counsel and attorneys that attended the case. “Under-the provisions of this statute every court of common law has an established system of costs, which are allowed to the successful party by way of amends for his expense .and trouble in prosecuting his suit. It is true, no ’doubt, and is specially so in this country, that the legal taxed costs are far below the real expenses incurred by the litigant. Yet it is all the law allows as expensa litis.” Justice Grier in Day v. Woodworth, 13 How. 363. See, also, Kneass v. Bank, 4 Wash. C. C. R. 238.
The courts have no power to award costs simply because they have power or jurisdiction over the subject-matter of the suit, or the parties to it. Costs are purely the subject of legislative appointment. Coggill v. Lawrence, 2 Blatchf. 304. Nor can courts go beyond the provisions of the statute to allow costs. Dedekam v. Vose, 3 Blatchf. 153. A copy of the record is not a part of the taxable costs of a suit to be recovered by one party against another. Caldwell v. Jackson, 7 Cranch, 277. Nor can the costs of printing a brief be taxed. Jennings v. The Perseverance, 3 Dall. 336; Ex parte Hughes, 114 U. S. 548. The cost of'printing' the record is now taxed, but this is so' by reason of an act of congress. 96 U. S. 594.
The only case I have found which is directly in point, holding a contrary view, is that of Dennis v. Eddy, 12 Blatchf. 195. The costs incurred in that case were in obedience to a rule of court, but without any statutory or other express authority, under the rule, to have the amount expended taxed. While the amount of the allowance in that case was not supported by any direct authority, the court was of opinion that, inasmuch as the expenditures were made in order to obey the directions of the court, it was legally taxable as costs. No case was cited in support of this ruling, and, in my opinion, is opposed by the almost universal rule announced by the courts of this country and England.
It is certainly a very great hardship that a litigant who has been illegally and unjustly adjudged to pay a sum of money, or suffer otherwise from a failure o.f .justice in an inferior court, that he can not be reimbursed absolutely necessary expenditures, in the way of transcript and printing fees paid out by him; but, as the source of all costs is statutory, the remedy for the evil must be by statute.
Cost is a pecuniary allowance made by positive law to the successful party in a suit, or a distinct proceeding within a suit, in consideration of and to reimburse his probable expenses. Abb. Law. Diet. The word “costs” is a word of well-known legal significance. It signifies, when used in relation to the expenses of legal proceedings, the sums prescribed by law, as charges for the services enumerated in the “fee bill.” Apperson v. Mutual Benefit L. I. Co., 38 N. J. Law, 272; Am. & Eng. Encyclopedia, Law, tit. “Costk”
The motion will be sustained, and the costs retaxed as herein directed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- J. R. PRICE v. WILLIAM GARLAND
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- 1 case
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- Published