Limitation of Actions Consultation - Law Commission

12 ACTIONS ON A JUDGMENT
13.137 Under the current law, the limitation period applicable to actions on a judgment is
six years from the date on which the judgment becomes enforceable. 184
Under our
core regime, such actions would be subject to an initial limitation period running
from the date of discoverability that the judgment was enforceable. As in nearly all
cases, a plaintiff knows or ought to know of an enforceable judgment as soon as it
becomes enforceable, there will rarely be any practical difference in starting date
from the present law. The action would also be subject to a ten year long-stop
period, running from the date of the defendant’s act or omission which, in this
context, can be taken to correspond to the date the judgment becomes enforceable
(that is, the defendant has an immediate obligation to comply with a judgment as
soon as it is enforceable). In practice the long-stop will nearly always start from
the same date as the initial limitation period and will therefore rarely be relevant.
We therefore provisionally believe that the application of the core regime to actions
on a judgment will not present any difficulties.
13.138 Our provisional view is that actions on a judgment should be subject to the
core regime. We ask consultees whether they agree and, if they do not, to
say why not.
13 ACTIONS ON AN ARBITRATION AWARD
13.139 Under the current law actions on an arbitration award are subject to a limitation
period running from the date on which the cause of action accrued. 185
This is the
date on which the defendant fails to honour the arbitration award when called
upon to do so. Under our core regime, the initial limitation period will start from
the date on which the defendant’s failure to do so is discoverable by the plaintiff.
The long-stop limitation period will start from the date the defendant fails to
comply with the arbitration award. As with actions on a judgment, in most cases
the initial limitation period will expire long before the long-stop period becomes
relevant. We do not believe that the application of our core regime to actions on
an arbitration award would be problematic. We therefore provisionally
recommend that actions on an arbitration award should be subject to the
core regime. Consultees are asked if they agree and, if they do not, to say
why not.
14 ACTIONS ON A STATUTE
13.140 Under the current law, 186
actions on a statute are subject to (at least) 187
two
different regimes. Where the action is for any “sum recoverable by virtue of any
enactment” the limitation period is six years from the date the cause of action
accrued. 188
Where the relief sought is something other than the payment of a sum
184 Section 24 of the 1980 Act. See paras 7.1 - 7.2 above.
185 Section 7 of the 1980 Act. See para 7.3 above.
186 See paras 7.10 - 7.21 above.
187 A further theoretical complication is the overlap between actions on a statute and statutory
torts (which fall under s 2 of the 1980 Act) and actions on a statute and actions founded on
simple contract (which fall under s 5 of the 1980 Act). See paras 7.17 - 7.21 above.
188 Section 9 of the 1980 Act. See paras 7.10, 7.12 - 7.14 above.
368