Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

Costs definition

What does Costs mean? In litigation, costs are the legal fees, disbursements, court fees and VAT incurred in bringing, defending or appealing a claim, and the sums a court or tribunal may order one party to pay another for those liabilities. The concept is governed by procedural rules and case law rather than a single statutory definition: England and Wales (CPR 44–47), Northern Ireland (RCJ Ord 62), Scotland (where the equivalent term is expenses), and Ireland (Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 and the Legal Costs Adjudicators). The general approach is broadly consistent, subject to local terminology and procedure. Typical features include the discretionary rule...

Security for costs and counterclaims under CPR 25: the Crabtree principle, independent vitality, Dumrul undertakings and exceptions (England and Wales)

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Practice notes

Note that, on 6 April 2025, amendments to CPR 25 took effect, re-numbering the former provisions and revising some of the wording relating to security for Costs. The previous version of rule 25 can be accessed here:

This Practice Note examines the Crabtree principle and its application. It also gives examples of Counterclaim cases where the Crabtree principle may not apply.

What is the Crabtree principle?

When an order for security for costs is made, failure to comply with that order will result in the claim being struck out. This can produce an unjust outcome where there is a counterclaim with its own independent vitality, as the parties’ issues would still be fought out on the counterclaim, creating one-sided litigation.

In such circumstances, the courts will seek to ensure fairness between the parties by applying what is known as the ‘Crabtree principle’.

In B J Crabtree (Insulation) v GPT Communication Systems (1990) 59 BLR 43 (not reported by LexisNexis®), the Court of Appeal considered that it would not be fair to make an order for security for costs in such circumstances...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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