"Everything costs its own cost, and one of our best virtues is a just desire to pay it." An analysis of Belgian law.

Abstract

This contribution gives an overview of the main features of the Belgian rules on cost and fee allocation in civil procedure. The general rule is that the losing party has to reimburse the judicial costs of the winning party, including the so-called expenses of judicial procedure. Recently, i.e., in 2007, this concept has been expanded to include the recovery of a (fixed) part of lawyers’ fees. This essay analyses the new rules and also deals with several exceptions to the general principle.