Case Name: WILLIAMS's LESSEE vs. HENDERSON
Court: Tennessee Superior Court of Law and Equity
Jurisdiction: Tennessee
Decision Date: 1809-05
Citations: 1 Overt. 424
Docket Number: 
Parties: WILLIAMS’s LESSEE vs. HENDERSON.
Judges: 
Reporter: Tennessee Reports
Volume: 1
Pages: 424–425

Head Matter:
WILLIAMS’s LESSEE vs. HENDERSON.
This case had been depending for some time, and at last court there was a verdict and judgment in favor of defendant.
Several witnesses who had formerly attended, and proved their attendance, did not attend when the cause was tried. There was a motion, that the costs of these witnesses should be stricken out of the bill of costs.
No costs can be allowed for witnesses who fail to attend the trial.

Opinion:
Per Curiam.
The taxation of costs, is at all times under the controul of the court. Even after it is collected, it may be ordered to be refunded at a subsequent term, if found erroneous. The attendance of witnesses, who do not attend the trial, cannot be taxed.
If it were otherwise, witnesses might be summoned only for vexation, and by keeping away at the trial, the court would not be able to ascertain whether they were material or not ; in ordinary cases, if a witness is examined on a trial, and he knows nothing of the matter in dispute, his attendance cannot be taxed.
And per Humphreys, j. The judgment for costs is always indefinite, there being no certain sum specified. Its usual form is, that A. recover against B. his costs about his suit in this behalf expended.
See 1 Binney, 12