Limitation of Actions Consultation - Law Commission

The judicial discretion to exclude the limitation period in cases of personal injuries
followed in 1975. 4
The Limitation Act 1963 reduced the limitation period for
contribution to two years. 5
The period for defamation was reduced from six years
to three in 1985 subject to a discretion to extend the period, 6
and the period has
been further reduced to one year by the Defamation Act 1996. 7
2.6 A judicial discretion to exclude (or, as it is often termed, to “disapply”) a limitation
period has been conferred in various specialised contexts (for example, under the
Maritime Conventions Act 1911 8
and the Sex Discrimination Act 1975). Reliance
on judicial discretion was first introduced into mainstream limitation law in 1975 in
respect of actions for personal injury and death. That discretion is now contained
in section 33 of the Limitation Act 1980. Subsequently, section 33 has been used
as a model for the conferral of a judicial discretion to disapply a limitation period
in actions for defamation and malicious falsehood (under the Defamation Act
1996). 9
2.7 Long-stops are rare in English law. Examples include the fifteen-year long-stop
running from the relevant act or omission of the defendant under the Latent
Damage Act 1986; 10
and the ten-year long-stop from the time when the product is
supplied in actions under the Consumer Protection Act 1987. 11
2.8 We have structured our examination of the four linked issues of starting date,
length, discretion to disapply and long-stop according to the causes of action in
question: Part III examines contract and tort; Part IV considers breach of trust;
Part V looks at restitutionary claims; Part VI examines actions to recover land and
related actions; and Part VII considers various miscellaneous actions (for example,
actions on a judgment and actions for contribution).
2.9 A useful guide to Parts III-VII may be found in Table 1 below. This table
summarises the law on the starting date, length of period, discretion to exclude
and long-stop for the major causes of action (which are all dealt with in the
Limitation Act 1980). We deal with specialist limitation periods in statutes other
than the 1980 Act in paragraphs 7.26 - 7.39 below (including Table 2 at pages 125
- 141).
4 Limitation Act 1975. This had been recommended by the Law Reform Committee,
Twentieth Report (Interim Report on Limitation of Actions: in Personal Injury Claims) (1974)
Cmnd 5630.
5 The period having previously depended on the nature of the original cause of action in
respect of which contribution was sought.
6 Administration of Justice Act 1985 s 57.
7 Defamation Act 1996, s 5 inserting new section 4A into the Limitation Act 1980.
8 See now the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. See paras 7.36 - 7.39 below.
9 Defamation Act 1996, s 5, inserting new section 32A into the Limitation Act 1980.
10 Latent Damage Act 1986, s 1, inserting new section 14B into the Limitation Act 1980.
11 Consumer Protection Act 1987, s 6(6), Schedule 1, para 1, inserting new section 11A into
the Limitation Act 1980.
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