Limitation Act Revision Chart: Periods and Provisions

This final note brings the series together for revision. It groups the periods of limitation by length, compares the provisions that extend, exclude or restart time, and sets the most frequently confused sections side by side. Each comparison links to the topic where the rule is explained in full.

1. Periods at a Glance

Figure 1: Limitation periods grouped by length

Days. Leave to defend a summary suit: 10 days (Article 118). Restoration, setting aside an ex parte decree, review: 30 days. Setting aside abatement and an execution sale: 60 days. Substitution, appeals to a High Court, revision: 90 days (Topic 29)
Years. One year for pre-emption and personal torts; three years for most contract and money claims and the residuary articles; twelve years for possession, mortgage money and execution; thirty years for redemption, foreclosure and suits by Government (Topic 28)
No limit. Suits against express trustees to follow trust property or for an account (s.10); enforcement of a perpetual injunction (Article 136, proviso); cognizance of offences punishable with more than three years (Topics 9, 26, 29)

2. Provisions that Relieve the Bar

How each provision helps, and where

Figure 2: How each provision helps, and where

Order of analysis. Choose the article and starting point; apply postponement (s.17), disability (s.6) or death before accrual (s.16); deduct exclusions (ss.12 to 15); add fresh periods (ss.18, 19, 22); check the last day (s.4); then, for appeals and applications only, consider condonation (s.5)
Outside the Act. A written promise to pay a time-barred debt under s.25(3) of the Contract Act; the Supreme Court's Covid exclusion from 15 March 2020 to 28 February 2022 (Topics 17, 27)

3. Frequently Confused Provisions

Side-by-side comparisons

Figure 3: Side-by-side comparisons

Key numbers. Section 8 cap: three years from cesser of disability. Easement: 20 years, ending within two years before the suit; interruption only after one year's acquiescence. Section 15(3): three months after appointment of a receiver or liquidator. Section 17(2): one year to seek extension of execution. Government: 30 years for suits and easements.
Two substantive rules. Section 25 creates a right and s.27 extinguishes one; both are exceptions to the rule that limitation bars only the remedy (Topics 1, 21, 22)

⚠ Exam trap

Section 5 never applies to suits or to Order XXI applications. Section 6 covers only minority, insanity and idiocy existing when time would start. Acknowledgment and part payment work only before expiry and never extend execution. Section 4 extends only the prescribed period. Pre-emption has one year; redemption has thirty. A deposit payable on demand runs from the demand; a loan payable on demand runs from the loan. The Act applies to courts, not tribunals, unless a statute applies it.

4. Frequently Asked Questions

Which provisions of the Limitation Act are substantive rather than procedural?

Section 25, under which an easement is acquired by twenty years' enjoyment, and s.27, under which the owner's right to property is extinguished when the period for a suit for possession expires. The rest of the Act generally bars only the remedy.

What is the difference between exclusion, extension and a fresh period?

Exclusion deducts a defined period from the count, as under ss.12 to 15. Extension adds time at the court's discretion, as under s.5 for appeals and applications. A fresh period restarts limitation from a new date, as on an acknowledgment (s.18), a part payment (s.19) or each moment of a continuing wrong (s.22).

Which limitation periods are only one year?

Suits to enforce a right of pre-emption (Article 97); suits for compensation for false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, libel and slander (Articles 73 to 76); and suits to set aside an order of a civil court outside a suit, or an act or order of a Government officer (Article 100).

5. Related Topics

Topic 31: Leading Cases on the Law of Limitation. The case law digest.
Topic 30: Starting Point of Limitation under the Schedule. The computation method.