Before advising a client to litigate, a solicitor must answer one question that can sink the whole case: is the claim still in time? Limitation law sets a deadline for starting proceedings. Miss it, and a defendant who pleads the point can defeat even the strongest claim. Getting this right — and knowing when a deadline can be moved — is one of the first things you do in any dispute.
This lesson builds your understanding step by step:
- Function and Framework — what limitation does, the governing statute, and what 'cause of action' and 'accrual' mean.
- Raising and Stopping Limitation — why the defendant must plead it, and when issuing a claim form stops the clock.
- Accrual and Knowledge — how accrual is judged objectively, and why a period can expire before a claimant knows.
- Limitation Periods by Cause of Action — the periods and start dates for contract, deeds, tort, negligence, personal injury and defamation.
- Continuing Torts and Concurrent Liability — fresh daily clocks and choosing the later-expiring period.
- Personal Injury Knowledge and Discretion — the knowledge date and the court's power to disapply.
- Disability — how minority or lack of capacity freezes the clock.
- Postponement, Acknowledgment and Part-Payment — fraud, concealment, mistake, and restarting a running clock.
- Latent Damage in Negligence — the alternative knowledge period and the 15-year longstop.
- Conversion and Theft — extinguished title and the thief exception.
- Burden of Proof and Key Distinctions — who proves what, and the lines between the regimes.