Limitation in an Action for Tort

Read the pattern rather than memorising the table. The personal torts get one year: false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, libel, slander. Wrongs to property get three years. Claims through a dead person get two.

The three sections that move the starting point

Section 22, continuing torts. In the case of a continuing tort a fresh period of limitation begins at every moment during which the tort continues. A continuing trespass or a continuing nuisance therefore never becomes wholly time barred while it lasts, though damages will be confined to the period within limitation.

Section 23, wrongs not actionable without special damage. Where an act gives no cause of action unless some specific injury results, the period is computed from the time the injury results, not from the act. This matters for slander that is not actionable in itself and for negligence where the damage appears late.

Section 17, fraud or mistake. Where the suit is based on the defendant's fraud, or the right of action is concealed by fraud, or relief is claimed from the consequences of a mistake, the period does not begin until the plaintiff has discovered the fraud or mistake or could with reasonable diligence have discovered it.

The two special statutory periods

A motor accident claim: six months. Section 166(3) of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988, inserted by the amendment of 2019 and brought into force on 1 April 2022, provides that no application for compensation shall be entertained unless it is made within six months of the occurrence of the accident. The history matters and is examinable: the Act originally allowed six months with power to condone delay, that limitation was removed altogether in 1994, and for twenty-eight years a claim could be filed at any time. The six month limit is back, and chapter [The Application for Compensation] works out what it means in practice.

A consumer complaint: two years. Section 69(1) of the Consumer Protection Act 2019 provides that no Commission shall admit a complaint unless it is filed within two years from the date on which the cause of action arose. Section 69(2) allows a complaint to be entertained after that period if the complainant satisfies the Commission that he had sufficient cause for not filing in time, provided the Commission records its reasons for condoning the delay.

The rule that goes further than barring the suit

Section 27 provides that at the determination of the period limited for instituting a suit for possession of any property, the right to that property is extinguished. Everywhere else limitation bars the remedy; here it destroys the right. This is why MU's topic is called extinguishment of liability, and the point is worth a sentence in any answer on the subject.

A worked example

Prakash is arrested without warrant on 1 March 2024 and released on 10 March 2024. On 12 March 2024 a newspaper prints that he is a smuggler. He is prosecuted on the newspaper's information and is acquitted on 5 December 2025. A neighbour has been dumping rubble on his land since January 2024 and continues to do so.

False imprisonment. Article 73: one year from the end of the imprisonment, so from 10 March 2024, expiring 10 March 2025.

Libel. Article 75: one year from publication, so from 12 March 2024.

Malicious prosecution. Article 74: one year from the acquittal, so from 5 December 2025, expiring 5 December 2026. Note that this claim could not even have been brought earlier, because a favourable termination is an ingredient of the tort.

Trespass to land. Article 87 gives three years from the date of the trespass, but section 22 makes this a continuing tort, so a fresh period runs every day the rubble stays.

And if he had been injured by a lorry on 1 March 2024, section 166(3) of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 would require his claim petition within six months, that is by 1 September 2024.

What it does NOT mean

It does not mean a court may ignore limitation because the claim is just. Section 3 makes dismissal mandatory.

It does not mean section 5 can extend the period for a suit. Section 5 applies to appeals and applications, not to suits.

It does not mean time always runs from the wrongful act. Articles 73, 74 and 76, and sections 17, 22 and 23, all move the starting point.

It does not mean the twelve month rule under the Fatal Accidents Act survives. Those words were omitted in 1871; article 82 gives two years from the date of death.

Quick revision

1. Section 3: a suit filed after the prescribed period must be dismissed even if limitation is not pleaded.
2. Sections 4 and 5: reopening after a court holiday; sufficient cause for appeals and applications, not for suits.
3. One year: false imprisonment (73), malicious prosecution (74), libel (75), slander (76), inducing breach (78), seizure and distress (79 and 80).
4. Two years: claims by representatives, including the Fatal Accidents Act claim (82).
5. Three years: obstruction and diversion of a watercourse (85 and 86), trespass to immovable property (87), infringement of copyright (88), waste (89), wrongful injunction (90), movable property (91).
6. Section 22: a fresh period at every moment of a continuing tort.
7. Section 23: time runs from the injury where the wrong is not actionable without special damage.
8. Section 17: fraud or mistake postpones the start until discovery.
9. Section 166(3) of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988: six months, in force from 1 April 2022.
10. Section 69 of the Consumer Protection Act 2019: two years, with delay condonable for sufficient cause recorded in writing.
11. Section 27: the right to property, not merely the remedy, is extinguished.

Test yourself

1. State the periods of limitation for actions in tort under the Limitation Act 1963. The periods are in Part VII of the Schedule. Articles 72 to 81 prescribe one year: for an act done in pursuance of an enactment, for false imprisonment running from the end of the imprisonment, for malicious prosecution running from the acquittal or other termination, for libel from publication, for slander from the speaking of the words or, where they are not actionable in themselves, from the resulting special damage, for loss of service by seduction, for inducing a breach of contract, for illegal distress and for wrongful seizure under legal process. Articles 82 to 84 prescribe two years, including the claim by representatives under the Fatal Accidents Act 1855 from the date of the death. Articles 85 to 91 prescribe three years, covering obstruction and diversion of a watercourse, trespass to immovable property, infringement of copyright, waste, injury by a wrongful injunction and wrongs to movable property.

2. From what point does time run in an action for malicious prosecution, and why? From the date on which the plaintiff is acquitted or the prosecution is otherwise terminated in his favour, under article 74. The reason is that a favourable termination of the prosecution is an ingredient of the tort itself, so no cause of action exists until it happens. Running time from the launching of the prosecution would bar many claims before they arose. The same logic explains article 73, which runs from the end of the imprisonment rather than from the arrest.

3. What is the effect of section 3 of the Limitation Act 1963? It makes limitation a matter for the court and not merely a plea for the defendant. Every suit instituted, appeal preferred and application made after the prescribed period shall be dismissed, although limitation has not been set up as a defence. A defendant who forgets to plead the point therefore does not lose it, and a court which notices that a suit is out of time must dismiss it even if both sides are content to proceed. Section 4 relieves a plaintiff whose period ends on a day the court is closed, and section 5 permits an appeal or application, but not a suit, to be admitted late for sufficient cause.

4. What are the special limitation periods for a motor accident claim and a consumer complaint? For a motor accident claim, section 166(3) of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 provides that no application for compensation shall be entertained unless it is made within six months of the occurrence of the accident. That sub-section was inserted by the amendment of 2019 and came into force on 1 April 2022; between 1994 and that date there was no period of limitation at all, so a claim could be filed at any time. For a consumer complaint, section 69(1) of the Consumer Protection Act 2019 requires the complaint to be filed within two years from the date on which the cause of action arose, and section 69(2) allows a Commission to entertain it later if the complainant shows sufficient cause and the Commission records its reasons for condoning the delay.

5. Distinguish barring the remedy from extinguishing the right. The general rule of the Limitation Act 1963 is that the expiry of the period bars the remedy and leaves the right alive, which is why a time-barred debt may be paid voluntarily and why the right may still support a defence. Section 27 is the exception: at the determination of the period limited for instituting a suit for possession of any property, the right to that property is extinguished. So an owner who allows the period for recovering possession to run out loses his title, not merely his suit, which is the sense in which liability is truly extinguished rather than merely unenforceable.