The practice of parties bearing the litigation costs and attorney fees of disputes began in Roman law. In the early church courts, legal proceedings and consultations were free, but there were several ways to ensure that legal proceedings could not be initiated without proper cause. For example, in sacramental litigation, each party must pay a bond to the monastery when filing a lawsuit. At the end of the lawsuit, the winning party's deposit will be returned, and the losing party's deposit will be confiscated to the temple.
Most laws in modern countries stipulate that courts and arbitral tribunals have the right to determine the burden of litigation costs in judgments. However, these countries have different regulations on how to determine the scope of jurisdiction for litigation costs and whether a judgment is allowed to bear litigation costs. The common practice in most countries is that the losing party pays all litigation costs for the winning party. However, in many countries, such as the United States, parties alone bear the costs of litigation. Below, we briefly explain the burden of litigation costs in various countries.