Out Of Time? Limitation In Common And Civil Law And Enforcement Challenges

Limitation is the time within which a legal action can be brought or a legal right enforced. If a party bringing a legal claim misses a limitation date, they will be time-barred, and can no longer bring that claim. In this article, Farhad Khalid and Robert Whitehead of Hamdan Al Shamsi explore a range of limitation periods across major jurisdictions and discuss related enforcement challenges in Duabi.

The Importance of Limitation Periods

Limitation periods exist to (i) protect a party and ensure the efficient administration of justice by not allowing claims to continue indefinitely and (ii) avoid too much time passing before a case is heard, as with time witnesses can forget the facts of the claim, or worse still, be no longer contactable, and evidence may become lost or misplaced.