§ 9-14-21.Costs of proceedings

Litigation costs do not disappear just because a case moves through habeas corpus rather than an ordinary civil action. This section gives the judge discretion to decide who pays. Nothing in the statute presumes the petitioner or the respondent bears the cost by default — the judge weighs the case and assigns costs to either side.

Once the judge awards costs, the statute backs that award with a collection tool: the judge may order the clerk to issue execution for the amount, the same mechanism Georgia law uses to enforce money judgments generally. That gives a costs award under this section real teeth rather than leaving it as an unenforceable line in the court’s order.

The discretionary framing here — “may in his discretion award” — stands out against the mandatory language found elsewhere in this chapter. Unlike the notice and recordation duties in the sections around it, cost-shifting in a habeas case is left entirely to the judge’s judgment on the facts of the particular proceeding.