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Law is
the back-bone for the standing of the peaceful and live society. It lives and
changes with the change in the society. The mortality is the fate of every
life. The nature and its laws follow it without break and deviations. So there
is no good for the society keep the disputes or litigation to be live for very
long period. The law of limitation is founded on the Latin maxim “Interest
republicae ut sit finis litium” , which means that it is for the general
welfare that a period be put to litigation.
In
England before James Statute of 1523 there was no specific Law of Limitation.
o
1523 A.D. James Statute introduced in England
for the Law of Limitation.
o
1793 A.D. From 1793 A.D. Regulations were passed
from time to time for fixing the limitation for institution of action; but
o
1858 A.D. Before 1858 two systems of Law of
Limitation were adopted by the Courts in India. In Presidency towns viz.
Calcutta, Madras and Bombay the English Law was followed; whereas in Moffusills
courts administered the law as laid down by the Regulations which passed from
time to time.
o
1859 A.D. The first attempt to introduce a
uniform law of limitation applicable alike to Courts established by Royal
Charter or other Courts by the Limitation Act 1859 (XIV of 1859), which come
into force in 1862.
o
1908 A.D. Finally, the question of consolidating
and amending the law relating to limitation for Suits, Appeals and Applications
was taken up and the Limitation Act of 1908 (IX of 1908) was passed.
Analysis of the Limitation Act 1908:
The of
1908 consist 30 sections and 183 articles. The sections deals with general
principles applicable to extension of time whether by reason of disability or
by acknowledgement. The sections are divided into five parts-
1. Part
I is preliminary
2. Part
II is section 3 to 11, deals with limitation of suits, appeals and
applications.
3. Part
III is section 12 to 25 deals with computation of period of limitation.
4. Part
IV is section 26 to 28 deals with acquisition of ownership by possession
5. Part
V is section 29 to 30 contains saving provisions.
And of
the Articles, article 1 to 149 relates to suit, article 150 to 157 relate to
appeal and article 158 to 183 relates to the application.
Objects of the law of limitations:
The
object of the Act is “to quiet long possession and to extinguish stale
demands”. It requires that there should be an end of litigation. The law of
limitation proceed upon the presumption that claims are extinguished or ought
to be held extinguished whenever they are not litigated within prescribed
period. In the words of John Voet, controversies are restricted to a fixed
period of time lest they become immortal while men are mortal.
The
object of the law of limitation is not to crate or define cause of action but simply
to prescribe the period within which existing right can be enforced in Courts
of law. It based upon the principles that the law aids the diligent and not the
indolent; that a man who has negligently slept over his right for an undue
length of time will not be allowed to litigate in respect of them; and a person
who has been in the enjoyment of property, or of a right, or of an immunity
from a demand by another, for a period of them which the law has prescribed,
will be allowed to enjoy that property and will not be harassed by unexpected
litigation. The operation of the law of limitation and also prescription has
been explained by Lord Plunket in a striking metaphor. He stated that time
holds in on hand a scythe and in the other, a hour-glass. The scythe moves down
the evidence of our rights while the hour-glass measures the period which
renders that evidence superfluous. Commenting on this a learned author observes
that the metaphor could have been completed by adding, so far as the state is
concerned, that the frame work of the hour-glass will certainly decay, the
glass be broken and the sand escape.
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