Limitation of Actions Consultation - Law Commission

PART VII
STARTING DATE, LENGTH OF PERIOD,
DISCRETION TO DISAPPLY AND LONG-
STOP: MISCELLANEOUS ACTIONS
1. ACTIONS ON A JUDGMENT
7.1 By section 24 of the 1980 Act, no action may be brought on a judgment more than
six years after the judgment becomes enforceable. 1
This must be read subject to
the distinction recognised by the courts between enforcing a judgment by suing on
it, and enforcing a judgment by execution. Section 24 only applies to suing on a
judgment. This was confirmed in National Westminster Bank v Powney. 2
Hearing
an appeal against a decision to set aside a warrant for possession, the Court of
Appeal endorsed the distinction made in WT Lamb & Sons v Rider 3
between the
substantive right to sue on a judgment and the procedural remedies provided by
the courts for execution of a judgment. It was held that applications to levy
execution did not come within the definition of “action” under section 24 and
that, therefore, no limitation period under the 1980 Act applied to them. 4
7.2 By section 24(2) of the 1980 Act, arrears of interest in respect of a judgment debt
are not recoverable after the expiry of six years from the date on which the interest
became due. In Lowsley v Forbes, 5
the Court of Appeal held that this limitation
period is also only applicable to the interest the plaintiff can claim in actions on a
judgment; it does not apply to the interest the plaintiff can claim in executing a
judgment. 6
1 Under the provisions of Rules of the Supreme Court, Order 42 rule 3, the judgment will
take effect on the date it is given, unless the Court orders it to take effect on a later day.
There is an exception under rule 3A for judgments entered in default of acknowledgement
against a foreign state. Such judgments take effect two months after the judgment has been
served on the state.
2 [1991] Ch 339. See also Berliner Industriebank Aktiengesellschaft v Jost [1971] 1 QB 278,
293, affirmed by the Court of Appeal [1971] 2 QB 463; Lowsley v Forbes, The Times, 5 April
1996; and In re A Debtor [1997] 2 WLR 57.
3 [1948] 2 KB 331.
4 Under the provisions of RSC, O 46, r 2 (and CCR, O 26 r 5(1)), leave of the court is
necessary to levy execution where six years or more have elapsed since the date of the
judgment or order. An action on the judgment can, by producing a fresh judgment, extend
the time available for enforcing the earlier judgment either by execution without leave of the
court for a further six years, or by reliance on the later judgment in related proceedings. In
ED & F Man (Sugar) Ltd v Haryanto (CA) (unreported, 17 July 1996) an action on the
judgment brought expressly for this purpose was held to be permissible by the Court of
Appeal. The burden is on the defendant to show that such an action is an abuse of the
process of the court.
5 The Times, 5 April 1996.
6 Evans LJ noted that “I am inclined to the view that s 24(2) is a historical relic and may be
an oddity in itself now that the periods for the judgment and for interest are the same.” See
transcript.
110