Limitation Act, 1908

The Limitation Act sets the time limits within which a person must file a lawsuit, appeal, or court application, and what happens if they miss that deadline. Section 3 states the basic rule plainly: any suit, appeal, or application filed after its prescribed time limit (set out in the First Schedule) must be dismissed by the court, even if the other side never raises the delay as a defence.

The Act then carves out fairness exceptions. Section 4 allows filing on the next working day if the deadline falls on a day the court is closed. Section 5 lets a court accept a late appeal or review application if the person shows 'sufficient cause' for the delay -- for example, being misled by a court's own earlier order or practice. Section 6 protects people who were minors, of unsound mind, or otherwise under a 'legal disability' when their right to sue first arose, giving them the same length of time to sue starting from when the disability ends, rather than counting the clock from the original event.

Part III (Sections 12 to 25) governs how the limitation clock is actually counted. Section 12 excludes time spent obtaining necessary court copies or in related legal proceedings. Section 14 excludes time spent pursuing a case in good faith before a court that turns out to lack jurisdiction. Section 18 provides that where fraud has concealed a person's right to sue, the limitation period only starts once the fraud is discovered. Section 19 is notable for practical purposes: a written, signed acknowledgment of a debt or right before the limitation period expires resets the clock and gives a fresh limitation period from the date of that acknowledgment.

Part IV (Sections 26-27) deals with acquiring rights such as easements through long, uninterrupted possession or use, rather than through a formal grant.

This is an old and heavily amended law -- the visible footnotes reference amendments from 1914, 1920, 1923, 1930, 1940, and 1980 -- and the specific number of years allowed for any particular type of suit is set out in the First Schedule, which varies by claim type and is not fully reproduced in the available extract. Anyone relying on a specific limitation period should check the current First Schedule and any provincial-level Limitation Act that may since have replaced this one for civil suits in that province.