Limitation Act 1980

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The Limitation Act 1980, “re-module” the Limitation Acts 1939, 1963 and 1975 and produced some changes as safety net or let us say, tide things up, relating legal issues such as time periods for cause of action governing fraudulent acts, contracts, mistakes, payments, personal injuries, deaths, negligence, defective products and many other legal issues. Some learners believe that before the implementation of the Limitation Act 1980, the defendant was in a very difficult position because the plaintiff /claimant/ injured party could arise a cause of action at any time without any time limitation. One could argue that the claimant had an indefinite right to sue the defendant. On the contrary, from the year 1623 with the enactment of the Limitation Act 1623, and onwards, the implementation of carious statutes such as the Limitation Act 1980 and the Latent Damage Act 1986, limited the time frame that a plaintiff had to pursue an action against the defendant and minimized the “indefinite” time period in favor of the defendant. In Pollard V Clayton it was held by the court that the plaintiffs lost their equitable right for claim because they apply for it eleven months after they became aware of the breach of contract. In Birse Construction and Ltd V McCormick Ltd the claimants failed to bring an action in the specific time frame of six years and therefore the judge ruled that the action was statute barred, by the Limitation Act 1980, section 5. The main limitation periods under the Limitation Act 1980, is six years for the breach of simple contracts (parol or written contracts) and tort ; twelve years for the recovery of land and contracts executed as deeds , three years for actions relating both tort and breach of contract in case of personal injuries, and the limitation of action exceeding the fifteen years. The sections in the Act differ in the case on which

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