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Court may award costs to defendant on acquittal and impose a penalty for bringing a malicious charge.
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24. It shall be lawful for any court of petty or of quarter sessions, before whom any case under this Act is tried, to award costs to the defendant in case of acquittal, to be paid by the prosecutor; and also if it shall appear to such court that the charge was made from a malicious, vexatious, or improper motive, it shall be lawful for such court to award to the defendant such further sum of money, not exceeding twenty pounds, as to such court shall seem fit, to be paid by such prosecutor as a compensation for the injury done; and in default of payment such costs and penalty shall be levied by distress upon such prosecutor’s goods.
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