ABSTRACT
The powers of the court in relation to costs are exercised by ‘costs officers’, defined as costs judges (formerly taxing masters), district judges and authorised court officers.
‘Costs’ are defined in r 43.2 and include fees, charges, disbursements, expenses, remuneration, reimbursements allowed to a litigant in person, any additional liability incurred under a funding arrangement (see below, 3.12) and any fee or reward charged by a lay representative for acting on behalf of a party in proceedings allocated to the small claims track. A solicitor’s bill will usually consist of profit costs, disbursements and VAT. The historical term ‘profit costs’ is a misnomer: it is the term used for the solicitor’s professional charges for his own services, and by no means do such costs entirely represent profit, as practitioners will be well aware. The drafting team responsible for such matters is thought to be keen to abolish the term in a future amendment to the PD and
costs precedents. Disbursements are payments made by the solicitor on behalf of the client, for example, court fees, counsel’s fees, experts’ fees and witness expenses.
