What is COSTS

A pecuniary allowance, made to the successful party, (and recoverable from the losing party,) for his expenses in prosecuting or defending a suit or a distinct proceeding within a suit. Apperson v. insurance Co., 38 N. J. Law, 388; Stevens v. Bank, 168 N. Y. 560, 60. N. E. 904; Bennett v. Kroth, 37 Kan. 235, 15 Pac. 221, 1 Am. St. Rep. 248; Chase v. De Wolf, 69 111. 49; Noyes v. State, 46 Wis. 250, 1 N. W. 1, 32 Am. Rep. 710. Costs and fees were originally altogether different in their nature. The one is an allowance to a party for expenses incurred in prosecuting or defending a suit; the other, a compensation to an oflicer for services rendered in the progress of a cause. Therefore, while an executor or administrator was not personally liable to his adversary for costs, yet, if at his instance an oihcer performed services for him, he had a personal demand for his fees. Musser v. Good, 11 Serg. & It. (Pa.) 247. There is in our statute a manifest difference between costs and fees in another respect. Costs are an allowance to a party for the expenses incurred in prosecuting or defending a suit,