Limitation and Prescription
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Dondorp, H., Ibbetson, D., Schrage, E. (Eds.) (2019). Limitation and Prescription. A Comparative Legal History. Duncker & Humblot. https://doi.org/10.3790/978-3-428-55626-7
Dondorp, Harry; Ibbetson, David and Schrage, Eltjo J. H.. Limitation and Prescription: A Comparative Legal History. Duncker & Humblot, 2019. Book. https://doi.org/10.3790/978-3-428-55626-7
Dondorp, H, Ibbetson, D, Schrage, E (eds.) (2019): Limitation and Prescription: A Comparative Legal History, Duncker & Humblot, [online] https://doi.org/10.3790/978-3-428-55626-7
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Limitation and Prescription
A Comparative Legal History
Editors: Dondorp, Harry | Ibbetson, David | Schrage, Eltjo J. H.
Comparative Studies in Continental and Anglo-American Legal History, Vol. 33
(2019)
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Abstract
Within both the Civil Law and the Common Law we find means of acquiring and losing rights, or freeing ourselves from obligations by the passage of time. The ratio thereof is twofold: (1) In the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. »Sometimes it is said that, if a man neglects to enforce his rights, he cannot complain if, after a while, the law follows his example« and (2) A claim should not hang above the head of the debtor as if it were a Damocles’ sword, or on the words of Best CJ »long dormant claims have more cruelty than justice in them.« This ratio is and has been felt strongly in every jurisdiction, but legislation, case law and jurisprudence but the specifications thereof show substantial dissimilarities, notably between the Common Law and the Civil Law, even thus that in recent times several Law Commissions reported about future modifications and other jurisdictions enacted new legislation. This book gives the necessary historical background on a comparative basis.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preface | VII | ||
| Table of Contents | IX | ||
| Harry Dondorp / Eltjo Schrage / David Ibbetson: Introduction | 1 | ||
| I. Lapse of Time | 1 | ||
| II. Status Quaestionis | 3 | ||
| III. A Terminological Remark | 10 | ||
| IV. The Relation between Limitation and the Acquisition of Ownership | 14 | ||
| V. Usucapio and παραγραφή: the Origin of the Concept of Praescriptio | 21 | ||
| VI. Early Continental Developments | 25 | ||
| VII. Canon-Law Influence | 29 | ||
| VIII. Common Law | 33 | ||
| IX. Balancing the Interests of Claimants and Defendants | 36 | ||
| Harry Dondorp: Limitation and Prescription in Justinian’s Corpus Iuris Civilis | 43 | ||
| I. Introduction | 43 | ||
| 1. A Terminological Remark | 45 | ||
| 2. The Sedes Materiae | 46 | ||
| II. Acquisitive Prescription | 47 | ||
| 1. Usucapio: Prescription of Movables | 49 | ||
| 2. Longi Temporis Praescriptio: Prescription of Land | 51 | ||
| 3. The Origin of the Longi Temporis Praescriptio | 54 | ||
| 4. Prescription of Unencumbered Ownership: Usucapio Libertatis | 55 | ||
| 5. Prescription of Servitudes in Analogy | 59 | ||
| 6. Triginta Annorum Praescriptio: Prescription of Almost Everything | 61 | ||
| III. Excursion: Praescriptio Immemorialis | 62 | ||
| IV. Limitation of Claims | 62 | ||
| 1. The Origin of the General Limitation of Actions | 64 | ||
| V. Interruption and Suspension | 65 | ||
| Emanuele Conte: Lapse of Time in Medieval Laws: Procedure, Prescription, Presumptions, Custom | 69 | ||
| I. Introduction | 69 | ||
| II. Uncertainty of the Law and of the Rights between Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages | 70 | ||
| III. The Discovery of a ‘Learned’ Possession and the Limits of Prescription in the Twelfth Century | 73 | ||
| IV. The Crucial Point of the Doctrine during the Age of the Glossators: Prescription of Services | 76 | ||
| V. Prescription and Presumption. The Theory of Azo in Practice: Roffredus and Iacobus Balduini | 79 | ||
| VI. The Force of Tradition and the Logic of Canon Law: Consuetudo Praescripta | 82 | ||
| VII. Quasi Possessio and the Broadening of the Range of Easements (Servitutes) | 86 | ||
| Harry Dondorp: Prescription and Limitation in Medieval Canon Law | 91 | ||
| I. Introduction | 91 | ||
| II. The Sedes Materiae | 92 | ||
| III. A Terminological Remark | 94 | ||
| IV. Gratian’s Decretum | 95 | ||
| V. Early Canon-Law Introductions to Praescriptio | 97 | ||
| VI. The Requirement of Continuous Good Faith | 102 | ||
| VII. Intermezzo: Jurisdiction Ex Defectu Justitiae | 105 | ||
| VIII. The Requirement of a Proper Cause | 106 | ||
| IX. Praescriptio Temporis Immemorialis | 113 | ||
| X. Limitation and Prescription of Church-Rights in less than Forty Years | 113 | ||
| XI. Suspension of Prescription and Limitation | 117 | ||
| XII. Limitation of Actions for Debts | 120 | ||
| Paul Brand: Limitation and Prescription in the Early English Common Law (to c. 1307) | 125 | ||
| I. Limitation Dates in the Writs of the Early Common Law | 125 | ||
| II. Prescription Periods in the Early Common Law, Short and Long | 134 | ||
| III. Conclusions | 143 | ||
| Sir John Baker: Prescriptive Customs in English Law 1300–1800 | 147 | ||
| I. Prescription, Custom and Usage | 147 | ||
| II. Principles Governing the Validity of Customs | 157 | ||
| 1. Immemorial Usage | 158 | ||
| 2. Reasonableness | 165 | ||
| 3. Certainty | 176 | ||
| 4. Rights over Land | 180 | ||
| 5. Manorial Customs | 183 | ||
| Neil Jones: Lapse of Time in Equity 1560–1660 | 189 | ||
| I. Introductory | 189 | ||
| II. Cases Referring to Statutes of Limitation | 190 | ||
| 1. The Statute of 1540 | 191 | ||
| 2. The Statute of 1624 | 194 | ||
| III. Cases Concerning Lapse of Time without Reference to Statute | 199 | ||
| 1. Interim Effects | 199 | ||
| 2. Decisory Effects | 201 | ||
| IV. Acquisitive Prescription | 205 | ||
| V. Conclusion | 210 | ||
| David Ibbetson: Limitation and Prescription in Early-Modern England | 213 | ||
| I. The Late Medieval Background | 213 | ||
| 1. Limitations | 214 | ||
| 2. Fines | 215 | ||
| 3. Incorporeal Rights | 215 | ||
| II. The Tudor Statutes | 216 | ||
| 1. The Statute of Fine 1489 | 216 | ||
| 2. The Statute of Limitation of Prescriptions 1540 | 218 | ||
| 3. Other Sixteenth Century Limitations | 221 | ||
| III. The Statute of James: The Limitation Act 1624 | 222 | ||
| IV. Conclusion | 228 | ||
| Jan Hallebeek: Early Modern Scholasticism on Acquisitive and Extinctive Prescription | 229 | ||
| I. Introduction | 229 | ||
| II. The Early Modern Scholastic Approach to Prescription | 231 | ||
| III. Purpose and Justification of Prescription | 234 | ||
| 1. Existing Opinions | 234 | ||
| 2. Adrian of Utrecht | 236 | ||
| 3. Juan de Medina and Alfonso de Castro | 236 | ||
| 4. Domingo de Soto | 238 | ||
| 5. Later Scholars on Punishment of Negligence as Justification | 239 | ||
| 6. The Teachings of Molina | 241 | ||
| 7. A Prevailing View: Common Interest as Justification | 241 | ||
| IV. Does Prescription Require Good Faith? | 243 | ||
| 1. Roman Law and Canon Law | 244 | ||
| 2. Secular Legislation | 245 | ||
| 3. Existing Opinions | 246 | ||
| 4. What is Bad Faith? | 247 | ||
| 5. Did the Pope Alter the Law? | 249 | ||
| 6. Extinctive Prescription of Rights | 250 | ||
| V. Can Rights Be Lost and Acquired through Prescription in the Forum of the Conscience? | 251 | ||
| 1. Existing Opinions | 252 | ||
| 2. The Common Interest Justifies Prescription in Conscience | 254 | ||
| 3. The Popes Approved of Prescription for the Forum of the Conscience | 255 | ||
| 4. Rejecting the Counter-Arguments | 256 | ||
| 5. The Statute of Charles V in the Forum of the Conscience | 258 | ||
| VI. Epilogue | 258 | ||
| Andrew R. C. Simpson: Legal Learning and the Prescription of Rights in Scotland | 263 | ||
| I. Introduction | 263 | ||
| II. The 1469 Act in Context | 266 | ||
| III. In Regno Scotie non Currit Praescriptio: Nisi in Obligationibus | 270 | ||
| IV. Prescription: A Just and Equitable Doctrine? | 276 | ||
| V. Praescriptione Omnia Iura Tollantur | 282 | ||
| VI. Prescription in Stair’s Institutions | 290 | ||
| VII. Conclusion | 294 | ||
| Martin Schermaier: Contemporary Use of Roman Rules: Prescription and Limitation in the Usus Modernus Pandectarum | 297 | ||
| I. “Modern Use of Roman Law” | 297 | ||
| II. The Basis: Late Medieval Mos Italicus | 299 | ||
| 1. Forms of Praescriptio | 300 | ||
| 2. Justifications | 302 | ||
| 3. Requirements | 303 | ||
| 4. Effects | 306 | ||
| 5. Lapse of Time in Other Circumstances | 308 | ||
| a) Vetustas and Praescriptio Immemorialis | 308 | ||
| b) Acquisition of ‘Rights’ in Rights | 309 | ||
| c) Praescriptio and Costumary Law | 310 | ||
| III. Usus Modernus Pandectarum: the Law in the Books | 311 | ||
| 1. Forms of Prescription | 312 | ||
| 2. Justifications and Definitions | 314 | ||
| 3. Requirements | 316 | ||
| a) Bona Fides | 316 | ||
| b) Res Habilis | 320 | ||
| c) Titulus | 320 | ||
| d) Possessio | 321 | ||
| e) Tempus | 322 | ||
| f) Divergent Local Laws | 326 | ||
| g) Modifications by Law or Contract | 327 | ||
| 4. Effects | 328 | ||
| IV. Lapse of Time in Other Circumstances: a look to the Practice | 328 | ||
| 1. Praescriptio Immemorialis | 328 | ||
| 2. The Acquisition of “Rights” in Rights and the Res Merae Facultatis | 331 | ||
| 3. Prescription and Customary Law | 334 | ||
| V. Conclusion | 335 | ||
| Mike Macnair: Length of Time and Related Equitable Bars 1660–1760 | 337 | ||
| I. Introductory | 337 | ||
| II. Prescription | 339 | ||
| III. Limitation | 343 | ||
| 1. Applying the Statute | 343 | ||
| 2. Equitable Relief Against the Statute | 348 | ||
| IV. Laches | 351 | ||
| V. Acquiescence | 355 | ||
| VI. Length of Time | 358 | ||
| VII. Conclusion | 362 | ||
| David Deroussin: Praescriptione Omnia Iura Tolluntur: Les Prescriptions dans l’Ancien Droit français | 363 | ||
| I. Introduction | 363 | ||
| II. Le Moyen Âge: la pénétration du droit romain | 365 | ||
| III. L’Ancien Droit des prescriptions (1): droit romain, fondement et conception | 374 | ||
| 1. La part du droit romain dans une matière coutumière | 374 | ||
| 2. Fondement et unité (?) de la notion | 378 | ||
| IV. L’Ancien Droit des prescriptions (2): le tempus, condition commune à toutes les prescriptions | 389 | ||
| 1. Le tempus dans les prescriptions libératoires | 389 | ||
| 2. Le tempus dans les prescriptions acquisitives | 391 | ||
| a) Les délais romains | 391 | ||
| b) Les autres délais (1): délais liés à la qualité de la chose | 393 | ||
| c) Les autres délais (2): choses imprescriptibles | 395 | ||
| d) Les autres délais (3): la prescription immémoriale | 400 | ||
| e) Les autres délais (4): délais liés à des particularités locales | 401 | ||
| f) La computation du tempus: la jonction des possessions | 402 | ||
| g) Les causes d’interruption / suspension | 403 | ||
| h) Interruption | 404 | ||
| i) Contre qui court la prescription ? La suspension du tempus | 408 | ||
| V. L’Ancien Droit des prescriptions (3): Les conditions propres à la prescription acquisitive | 410 | ||
| 1. Le juste titre | 410 | ||
| 2. La bonne foi | 412 | ||
| 3. La possession | 415 | ||
| a) Définitions et domaine / objet | 415 | ||
| b) Caractères | 417 | ||
| Joshua Getzler: Lord Tenterden’s 1832 Prescription Act: Why Was it Passed, and Was it a Failure? | 421 | ||
| I. A Statute Without Friends | 421 | ||
| II. The Law Before 1832 | 428 | ||
| III. John Campbell Q.C. and the Real Property Commissioners | 434 | ||
| IV. Prescription, Tithes of the Clergy, and the Great Reform Bill 1830–1832 | 438 | ||
| V. Breakdown and Recovery – the 1831 Riots and their Aftermath | 450 | ||
| VI. Church Bills for Composition and Commutation of Tithes | 456 | ||
| David Deroussin: Le Droit Français des Prescriptions depuis 1804, ou l’impossible simplicité | 459 | ||
| I. Une nouvelle ère en matière de prescription ? | 459 | ||
| II. Le Code civil | 463 | ||
| 1. Du projet élaboré par la Commission de l’an VIII au Code civil | 463 | ||
| 2. Les principes directeurs du Code civil | 468 | ||
| a) La prescription est nécessaire et légitime | 469 | ||
| b) La fragile unité de la prescription | 470 | ||
| c) Le Code civil, une oeuvre de simple transaction ? | 471 | ||
| III. L’interprétation du Code civil | 472 | ||
| 1. Où rien n’est jamais acquis… | 473 | ||
| a) Le fondement de la prescription | 473 | ||
| b) L’étranger et le mort civil | 475 | ||
| c) La prescription et l’obligation naturelle | 475 | ||
| d) Unité ? | 477 | ||
| e) Nature de la prescription | 480 | ||
| 2. Où l’interprétation recouvre ses droits: les conditions de la prescription | 484 | ||
| a) Les prescriptions libératoires | 485 | ||
| b) La prescription acquisitive | 490 | ||
| IV. Bilan | 502 | ||
| Christian Hattenhauer: Prescription and Limitation in Germany and Austria from the Late 18th Century to the 2002 Reform of the German Law of Limitation and Obligations | 507 | ||
| I. Political and Legal Background | 507 | ||
| II. The Overcoming of the Ius Commune Unified Concept of Praescriptio in the German Pandectist School of Law | 510 | ||
| 1. Acquisitive and Extinctive Prescription as Manifestations of the Unified Institution of Praescriptio | 510 | ||
| 2. The Impact of the Unified Concept of Praescriptio on the Codifications Influenced by the Law of Reason | 516 | ||
| 3. Friedrich Carl von Savigny and his Overcoming of the Unified Concept of Praescriptio | 518 | ||
| 4. The Separation of Prescription and Limitation in the Legislation | 521 | ||
| III. The Development of Prescription | 523 | ||
| 1. The Ius Commune Doctrine of Acquisitive Prescription and its Legislative Implementation | 523 | ||
| 2. Acquisitive Prescription of Movable Property and Instantaneous Bona Fide Acquisition | 527 | ||
| 3. Acquisitive Prescription of Immovable Property and the Land Register System | 530 | ||
| 4. Acquisitive Prescription of Movable and Immovable Property in the Era of National Socialism and in the Law of the German Democratic Republic | 535 | ||
| IV. The Development of Limitation | 539 | ||
| 1. The Purpose of Limitation | 539 | ||
| a) The Development in the 19th Century and the Modern-Day View | 539 | ||
| b) The Purpose of Limitation in the Era of National Socialism and in the German Democratic Republic | 542 | ||
| 2. The Turn Away from the Requirement of Bona Fides | 545 | ||
| 3. The Object of Limitation | 550 | ||
| a) Action, Right, Claim | 550 | ||
| b) The Subjection to Limitation of Real Claims, Especially of the Claim for Ownership | 554 | ||
| c) The Limitation of the Claim for Vindication in the Case of Looted Art | 558 | ||
| 4. The Impact of Limitation | 562 | ||
| a) The Impact of Limitation under the Codifications Influenced by the Law of Reason | 563 | ||
| b) The Debate on the Impact of Limitation in Ius Commune Academia | 566 | ||
| c) The Effects of Extinctive Prescription in the Legislation and Draft Legislation up to the 1866 Dresden Draft | 569 | ||
| d) The Effects of Extinctive Prescription in the BGB Consultations | 570 | ||
| e) The “Weak-weaker” Model of Limitation in Today’s German Law | 576 | ||
| 5. Periods, Commencement, Suspension and Interruption (Resumption) of Limitation up to the 1900 German BGB | 578 | ||
| a) Limitation Periods | 579 | ||
| b) Commencement of Limitation | 583 | ||
| c) Suspension and Interruption of Limitation Periods | 585 | ||
| aa) The Grounds for Suspension of Limitation | 585 | ||
| bb) The Grounds for Interruption of Limitation | 588 | ||
| 6. The Development of the German Law of Limitation under the 1900 BGB | 590 | ||
| a) The 1900 Law of Limitation’s Lack of Probation | 590 | ||
| b) In Particular: The “Limitation-Jungle” of §§ 195, 477, 638, 852 BGB 1900 | 593 | ||
| 7. The 1992 Commission’s Proposals to Reform the Law of Obligations | 596 | ||
| 8. The Reform of the German Law of Limitation by the 2002 Law of Obligations Modernisation Act | 598 | ||
| a) The Legislative Procedure: Time Pressure instead of Thoroughness | 598 | ||
| b) Characteristics of the New German Law of Limitation | 601 | ||
| aa) Retention of Limitation of the Claim | 601 | ||
| bb) Primarily “Subjectively” Based Shortened Standard Limitation | 604 | ||
| cc) “Objectively” Based Special Cases of Limitation | 606 | ||
| V. Verwirkung | 608 | ||
| 1. Verwirkung in German Law (§ 242 BGB) | 608 | ||
| 2. The Rejection of the General Institution of Verwirkung in Austrian Law | 614 | ||
| VI. Summary | 615 | ||
| Bibliography | 619 | ||
| Pascal Pichonnaz: Limitation in Switzerland: a Comparative Account | 633 | ||
| I. The Historical Background of the Swiss Codification of Limitation | 633 | ||
| II. The Divide between Limitation and Acquisitive Prescription | 635 | ||
| 1. Prescription and Limitation in 1853 Zurich Civil Code | 635 | ||
| 2. Limitation in the 1881 Federal Code of Obligations | 636 | ||
| 3. Prescription in the 1907 Civil Code | 637 | ||
| III. The Rethinking of the Rationale of Extinctive Prescription | 639 | ||
| IV. The Distinction between Limitation and Verwirkung | 643 | ||
| V. The Basic Regime of Limitation under Swiss Law | 645 | ||
| 1. The Limitation Period | 645 | ||
| 2. The Beginning of the Limitation Period | 646 | ||
| 3. Interruption | 649 | ||
| 4. Suspension | 650 | ||
| VI. Some Aspects of Acquisitive Prescription | 652 | ||
| VII. The Evolution of Limitation in Switzerland | 654 | ||
| Mike Macnair: English Limitation Reforms and Controversies | 659 | ||
| I. Introduction | 659 | ||
| II. The 1939 Act | 662 | ||
| III. Land Claims | 665 | ||
| 1. Limitation | 665 | ||
| 2. Acquisition by Prescription of Easements and Profits | 670 | ||
| IV. Tort Claims | 671 | ||
| 1. Fault Liability and ‘Latent Damage’ | 671 | ||
| 2. Defamation | 676 | ||
| V. Conclusion | 679 |