Costs

The words “just and reasonable” in s 64 of the Magistrates’ Court Act 1981 did not apply solely to quantum. The discretion conferred by that section on a magistrates’ court to make an order as it thought just and reasonable applied equally to a decision as to which party, if any, should pay the costs of the appeal. What was just and reasonable would depend on all the relevant facts and circumstances of the case.

Costs might follow the event, but it might not be so. Where a complainant had successfully challenged an administrative decision of an authority and that authority had acted reasonably in the exercise of its public duty, a court should consider: (i) the financial prejudice to the particular claimant if an order for costs was not to be made in his favour; and (ii) the need for licensing authorities to make reasonable and apparently sound administrative decisions without suffering financial prejudice if those decisions