The court distilled 11 principles governing the exercise of costs discretion, including that the proper approach to apportionment where a successful party has failed on discrete issues is to have regard to discrete issues or claims rather than the quantum of success. The abandonment of defences at trial, even serious allegations of improper conduct, does not without more constitute special circumstances warranting indemnity costs. The traditional caveat against issue-by-issue costs apportionment may carry less weight in modern litigation.
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