Section 95(4) of the Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW) confers a broad discretion to order interest on costs without any requirement that the applicant demonstrate 'special circumstances'. The discretion is properly enlivened where the successful litigant has been out of pocket from paying legal costs during lengthy litigation and the unsuccessful party may be presumed to have had the benefit of the money. The question whether s 95(4) operates retrospectively to the period before 17 May 1996 remains unresolved, but ss 95(1) and 76 provide alternative sources of jurisdiction for that earlier period.
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