LIMITATION, STATUTES OF, the name given to Acts of parliament by which rights of action are limited in England, Wales and the north of Ireland to a fixed period after the occurrence of the events which give rise to the cause of action. This is one of the devices by which lapse of time is employed to settle disputed claims. The principle was first adopted in English law in con nection with actions for the recovery of real property. At first a fixed date was taken, and no action could be brought of which the cause had arisen before that date. By the Statute of Westminster the First (3 Edward I. c 39), the beginning of the reign of Richard I. was fixed as the date of limitation for such actions. Possession of rights in alieno solo from time immemorial was held to be an indefeasible title, and the courts held time immemorial to begin with the first year of Richard I.
A large number of statutes since that time have established pe riods of limitation for different kinds of actions. Of those now in force the most important are the Limitation Act 1623 for per sonal actions in general, and the Real Property Limitation Act 1833 relating to actions for the recovery of land. The latter statute has been much amended by the Real Property Limitations Act By s. 14 of the Act of 1833, when any acknowledgment of the title of the person entitled has been given to him, the statute begins to run from that fact. By s. 15, persons under the disability of infancy, lunacy or coverture, or beyond seas, and their repre sentatives, are to be allowed ten years from the termination of this disability, or death (which shall have first happened), notwith standing that the ordinary period of limitation shall have expired.
By the Act of 1623 actions of trespass, detinue, trover, replevin or account, actions on the case (except for slander), actions of debt arising out of a simple contract and actions for arrears of rent not due upon specialty shall be limited to six years from the date of the cause of action. Actions for assault, menace, battery, wounds and imprisonment are limited to four years, and actions for slander to two years. Persons labouring under the disabilities of infancy, lunacy or unsoundness of mind are allowed the same time after the removal of the disability. When the defendant was "beyond seas" (i.e., outside the United Kingdom and the adjacent islands) an extension of time was allowed, but by the Real Prop erty Limitation Act of 1874 such an allowance is excluded as to real property, and as to other matters by the Mercantile Law Amendment Act 1856.
An acknowledgment, whether by payment on account or by mere spoken words, was formerly sufficient to take the case out of the statute. The Act 9 Geo. IV. c. 14 (Lord Tenterden's Act) requires any promise or admission of liability to be in writing and signed by the party to be charged, otherwise it will not bar the statute.
Contracts under seal are governed as to limitation by the Act of 1883, which provides that actions for rent upon any indenture of demise, or of covenant, or debt or any bond or other specialty, and on recognizances, must be brought within 20 years after cause of action. Actions of debt on an award (the submission being not
under seal), or for a copyhold fine, or for money levied on a writ of fieri facias, must be brought within six years. With regard to the rights of the Crown, the principle obtains that nullum tempus occurrit regi, so that no statute of limitation affects the Crown without express mention. But by the Crown Suits Act 1769, as amended by the Crown Suits Act 1861, in suits relating to land, the claims of the Crown to recover are barred after the lapse of 6o years. For the prosecution of criminal offences generally there is no period of limitation, except where they are punishable on summary conviction. In such case the period is six months by the Summary Jurisdiction Act 1848. Suits and indictments under penal statutes are limited to two years if the forfeiture is to the Crown, to one year if the forfeiture is to the common informer. Penal actions by persons aggrieved are limited to two years by the Act of 1833. Prosecutions under the Riot Act can only be sued upon within 12 months after the offence, and offences against the Customs Acts within three years. By the Public Authorities Pro tection Act, 1893, a prosecution against any person acting in exe cution of statutory or other public duty must be commenced within six months.
Trustees are expressly empowered to plead statutes of limita tion by the Trustees Act 1888. For further information see the Crown Suits Acts 1769 and 1861, Summary Jurisdiction Acts 1848 and 1925, the Riot Act, the Customs Acts, the Public Authorities Protection Act 1893, the Criminal Law Amendment Acts 1885 and 1922, and the Trustees Act 1888. (See PRESCRIP TION, LACHES. ) As regards the application and adoption of the English statutes in the colonies, see W. Burge, Commentaries on Colonial and Foreign Laws (new ed., 1907-27), vol. iv., pt. ii.
United States.—The various States possess their own statutes of limitation which are modelled in the main upon the English statutes but differ widely in their minor details. Real actions are usually not barred for twenty years, whereas personal actions survive only for six years. Numerous distinctions exist with reference to personal actions, a distinction generally being drawn between actions sounding in contract and those sounding in tort, the latter having a shorter period ranging from two to six years. About half the States have copied the provisions of the English statute of 1833 known as Lord Tenterden's Act requiring any promise or acknowledgment of liability to be in writing in order to revive a debt barred by the period of limitation. Separate statutes prescribe varying periods of limitation for the prosecution of criminal offenses. A difference of opinion exists in the State courts as to whether the statute of limitations must be specially pleaded in order to be available as a defense. A few States take judicial notice of the running of the period but most States insist that the defendant must expressly claim the benefit of the statute.