Question 1

What does "prescription" mean under the Prescription Ordinance No. 22 of 1871?

Accepted Answer

Prescription is the legal rule that a claim must be brought within a fixed period of time. The Prescription Ordinance No. 22 of 1871, as amended, sets out those periods for the main classes of civil action in Sri Lanka - for example ten years on a mortgage or bond under Section 5, six years on a written contract under Section 6, three years on an unwritten contract under Section 7, two years for damages under Section 9, and three years for causes of action not otherwise provided for under Section 10.

In the context of land, prescription works in the other direction as well: Section 3 allows a person in undisturbed and uninterrupted possession by a title adverse to the owner to acquire prescriptive title after ten years.

Other statutes may set their own limitation periods for particular claims, and where they do, those periods apply instead.

Question 2

When does the prescriptive period start to run?

Accepted Answer

As a general rule, time runs from the date the cause of action accrues - the date on which the claimant first became entitled to sue - and not from the date the loss was discovered or the date the claimant decided to act.

What that date is depends on the class of action and on the facts. On a debt it is usually the date the money became payable; on a mortgage or bond, the date of the instrument or of the last payment of interest; on a breach of contract, the date of the breach; on a claim for damages, the date of the act or default complained of. Where the obligation or the wrong is a continuing one, the starting point can be different again.

Because the accrual date is a question of fact, it is the single point on which this tool is most likely to be wrong for your matter. Confirm it with a lawyer before relying on the deadline shown.

Question 3

What happens if the period has already expired?

Accepted Answer

If the period has run out, the claim is said to be prescribed, or time-barred, and the court will not grant the remedy sought. The underlying obligation is not necessarily treated as having disappeared - a debtor may still choose to pay - but the claimant can no longer compel performance through an action.

Where land is concerned the effect can go further: once a possessor has completed the period of adverse possession under Section 3, the owner's right to recover the land can be extinguished and title can vest in the possessor.

A claim that appears prescribed is still worth taking advice on. The starting date may not be what it first seems, and the period may have been interrupted or suspended.

Question 4

Can the prescriptive period be interrupted, suspended, or restarted?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The Ordinance and the general law recognise several situations in which a period does not simply run without interruption from the accrual date:

Acknowledgement of liability. Where a debtor acknowledges the debt, a fresh period can begin from the date of the acknowledgement. The Ordinance restricts how an acknowledgement may be proved, and one that is not in writing and signed by the party to be charged will generally not be enough.
Part payment. A payment on account of the debt, or of interest on it, can likewise give a new starting point.
Legal disability. The Ordinance contains savings for persons who were under a disability - for example minority or unsoundness of mind - when the cause of action accrued, so that time does not run against them in the ordinary way.
Institution of the action. Filing the action within the period stops time running on that claim.

The requirements for each of these are technical, and this tool does not apply any of them. It calculates the plain period from the date you enter.

Question 5

Will the court raise prescription on its own?

Accepted Answer

Prescription is treated as a defence. It is for the defendant to raise it, and in the ordinary course it must be pleaded - typically in the answer - and, where the facts are disputed, supported by evidence. A court will not normally dismiss an action as prescribed of its own motion where the point has not been taken.

The practical consequence runs both ways. A defendant who does not plead prescription at the proper stage may lose the benefit of it. A claimant should not assume that an expired period will pass unnoticed.

Question 6

What is this tool, and what other names does it go by?

Accepted Answer

This is a free calculator that works out how long you have to bring a civil claim in Sri Lanka. You choose the class of claim - land, a mortgage or bond, a written or unwritten contract, goods and services, damages, or a cause of action not otherwise provided for - enter the date the cause of action arose, and the tool returns the statutory period that applies, the section of the Prescription Ordinance No. 22 of 1871 it comes from, the date that period expires, and whether the claim is still actionable today or has already prescribed.

Tools of this kind go by several names, and you may have come looking for this one as a prescription period checker, a time-barred claim checker, a claim deadline calculator, a statute of limitations calculator, or a legal deadline checker. They all describe the same exercise. Sri Lankan law happens to use the word prescription where most common law jurisdictions say limitation, so a search for a "statute of limitations calculator" and a search for a "prescription period checker" land in the same place here.

Whatever you call it, the result is an estimate. The date a cause of action accrues is a question of fact, and it is the input most likely to differ in a real matter - see the question on when the period starts to run, above, and confirm it with a lawyer before relying on any date shown.

Legal Time Limit Calculator - Sri Lanka

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