What You Need to Know about Limitation Laws

Circumstances may occur that will demand that you approach the court of law for justice. When an occasion demands that you should approach the court of law for justice, there are some facts you need to know before instituting an action in court. One of these facts is whether the suit you want to file in the court is one which has a specified period of time within you can file the suit. If it has a specified period of time, you need to find out whether you are within time or out of time in filing the suit. If you are within time, you can go ahead to file your suit. If you are out of time, you cannot file your suit in court. This is the general position of the law.

There are however exceptions to this general position of the law. There are instances where, though you are out of time in filing a suit, the law permits you to file your suit. We shall discuss these instances in our subsequent article. Meanwhile, our focus here is the general position of the law which says that you must file your suit within the period of time prescribed by law. Any law that prescribes a period of time within which action can be instituted in court is called “Limitation Act,” “Limitation Law” or “Statute of Limitation.”  Examples of Limitation Act/Law or Statute of Limitation are:

1. Limitation Act CAP 522 Law of the Federal Capital Territory;
2. Limitation Laws of the 36 States of the Federation;
3. Public Officers Protection Act CAP P41 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 2004; and
4. Public Officers Protection Laws of the 36 States of the Federation

Below is a table showing actions you can institute in the court of law and the periods within which you can institute the actions:  

S/N	ACTIONS	LIMITATION PERIODS
1	Any action against public officers, government agencies, ministers, etc	3 months
2	Actions for judicial review.	3 months
3	An action to recover penalty or forfeiture, or  a sum by way of penalty or forfeiture by virtue of an enactment.	2 years
4	An action to recover an amount recoverable against concurrent wrongdoers under a civil liability enactment relating to concurrent wrongdoers.	2 years
5	Actions claiming damages for negligence, nuisance or breach of duty (whether the duty exists by virtue of a contract, under an enactment or independently of a contract or enactment)	3 years
6	An action claiming damages for slander	3 years
7	An action founded on Tort (except negligence, nuisance and breach of duty)	6 years
8	An action for an account.	6 years
9	An action for arrears of interest in respect of a debt.	6 years
10	An action for recovery of money	6 years
11	Actions founded on simple contract	6 years
12	Actions founded on quasi-contract	6 years
13	Actions to enforce recognisance	6 years
14	Actions to enforce an arbitration award (where the arbitration agreement is not under seal or where the arbitration is under an enactment other than the Arbitration and Conciliation Act)	6 years
15	Action in respect of Trust Property (Property held in trust for another)	6 years
16	Actions to recover arrears of conventional rent, rent charges and Annuities charged on moveable properties	6 years
17	Actions in respect of conversion or wrongful detention and further conversion	6 years
18	An action upon an instrument under seal, other than an action upon an instrument to recover	12 years
19	Any principal sum of money secured by a mortgage or other charge	12 years
20	Arrears of interest in respect of a sum of money secured by a mortgage or other charge	12 years
21	Arrears on an annuity charged on moveable property	12 years
22	An action to enforce an arbitration award where the arbitration award is under seal	12years
23	An action to recover a sum due to a registered company by a member thereof under its articles of association	12 years
24	Actions to recover land by any person	12 years
25	An action upon a judgment	12 years
26	Actions in respect of the personal estate of deceased persons	12 years
27	Actions to recover land by a State	20 years in Abuja & 12 years in Lagos
28	Actions in respect of sale of mortgage properties/charges by a State authority	30 years

In view of the above, any action you institute in court outside the specified limitation period will be statute barred. The other lawyer in the suit will file a Notice of Preliminary Objection in the court to challenge the jurisdiction of the court on the grounds that the action is statute barred, and/or plead the defence of statute of limitation in his statement of defence and ask the court to dismiss the case as the action is statue barred. If the court finds that you instituted the action outside the period specified by the law, it will dismiss the case.

However, as stated earlier, there are instances where you can still file a suit in the court outside the specified period. In our next article, we shall discuss these instances. Make sure you stay glued here to read the article.