The Ultimate Limitation Period: Updating the Limitation Act

Canadian Business Law Journal, Vol. 39, No. 149, 2003

14 Pages Posted: 23 Jul 2008

See all articles by Erik S. Knutsen

Erik S. Knutsen

Queen's University Faculty of Law

Date Written: July 20, 2003

Abstract

Limitation periods are, by nature, defense-sensitive. They are designed to bring closure, predictability and insurability to defendants while at the same time prompting plaintiffs not to sleep on their rights. Current trends in evolving legal doctrine continue to modify the effect of limitation periods in favor of a plaintiff in special circumstances. The concepts of discoverability and incapacity have become judicially imposed options for avoiding the harsh results of a limitation period if a plaintiff is unable to bring an action before the period expires. Working in the background of this jurisprudential outgrowth are the real or imagined pressures placed by an insurance industry seeking underwriting certainty. The effect is perhaps a perception that limitation periods are becoming softened and plaintiffs are wriggling free of the supposed closure, predictability and insurability that a strict limitation period is supposed to provide to defendants. This perception is one that may be behind the British Columbia Law Institute's latest report, The Ultimate Limitation Period: Updating the Limitation Act.

Keywords: limitation, limitation period, statute of limitations, civil litigation, ultimate limitation

Suggested Citation

Knutsen, Erik S., The Ultimate Limitation Period: Updating the Limitation Act (July 20, 2003). Canadian Business Law Journal, Vol. 39, No. 149, 2003, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1164222

Erik S. Knutsen (Contact Author)

Queen's University Faculty of Law ( email )

Macdonald Hall
128 Union Street
Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6
Canada
613-533-6000 ext. 78360 (Phone)
613-533-6509 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://law.queensu.ca/facultyAndStaff/facultyProfiles/knutsen.html

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