Case Name: Allen against Hickson
Court: New Jersey Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: New Jersey
Decision Date: 1797-11
Citations: 6 N.J.L. 499
Docket Number: 
Parties: Allen against Hickson.
Judges: 
Reporter: New Jersey Law Reports
Volume: 6
Pages: 499–499

Head Matter:
[NOVEMBER TERM, 1797.]
Allen against Hickson.
ON CERTIORARI.
An action will not lie to recover back an unreasonable amount of costs which had been taxed and paid ; the proper remedy is by retaxation.
From the return in this case, it appeared that Hickson had sued Allen in the Common Pleas of Sussex county, and obtained judgment for debt and costs. Allen paid the debt to Hickson, and the costs to the sheriff, and then brought this action, alleging — 1. That Hickson had run him to unnecessary costs. 2. That the costs were unreasonably high.

Opinion:
Per Curiam.
A suit cannot be sustained on such grounds; if the costs be unreasonable, retaxation is the proper remedy. It would be to allow a justice to set aside the judgment of the Common Pleas, a tribunal of superior powers to his own, which had decreed a particular sum as legal costs.