Limitation Act 1959

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Coming into Force: 27 December 1996
• Act Number: (Original Enactment: Ordinance 57 of 1959)
• Enactment Date: 11 September 1959
• Record Number: Cap. 163
• Published date: 27 December 1996

Limitation Act

(CHAPTER 163)

(Original Enactment: Ordinance 57 of 1959)

REVISED EDITION 1996

(27th December 1996)

An Act regulating the limitation of actions and arbitrations.

[11th September 1959]

PART I Short title 1. This Act may be cited as the Limitation Act. Interpretation 2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires — “action” includes a suit or any other proceedings in a court; “land” includes things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything attached to the earth, rentcharges and any legal or equitable estate or interest in land (including an interest in the proceeds of the sale of land held upon trust for sale) but does not include any right of way, easement, servitude, profit over or in respect of land, or right in the nature of an easement, servitude or profit over or in respect of land, or any other incorporeal hereditament; “personal estate” and “personal property” do not include land or chattels real; “personal injuries” includes any disease and any impairment of a person’s physical or mental condition; “rent” includes a rentcharge and a rent service; “rentcharge” means any annuity or periodical sum of money charged upon or payable out of land except a rent service or interest on a mortgage or charge on land or a rent payable in respect of a grant or lease of State land; “trust” and “trustee” have the same meanings as in the Trustees Act [Cap. 337]. [7/66] (2) Subject to section 36(1)(b) of the Civil Law Act (Cap. 43), for the purposes of this Act, a person shall be deemed to be under a disability while he is a minor or lacks capacity (within the meaning of the Mental Capacity Act 2008) to conduct legal proceedings. [7/2009 wef 01/03/2009] [21/2008 wef 01/03/2010] (3) A person shall be deemed to claim through another person, if he became entitled by, through, under, or by the act of that other person to the right claimed, except that a person becoming entitled to any estate or interest by virtue of a special power of appointment shall not be deemed to claim through the appointor. (4) References in this Act to a right of action to recover land shall include references to a right to enter into possession of the land or in the case of rentcharges any right to distrain for arrears of rent and references to the bringing of such an action shall include references to the making of such an entry or distraint. (5) References in this Act to the possession of land shall, in the case of rentcharges, be construed as references to the receipt of the rent, and references to the date of dispossession or discontinuance of possession of land shall, in the case of rentcharges, be construed as references to the date of the last receipt of rent. (6) In Part III references to a right of action shall include references to a cause of action and to a right to receive money secured by a mortgage or charge on any property or to recover proceeds of the sale of land, and to a right to receive a share or interest in the personal estate of a deceased person; and references to the date of the accrual of a right of action shall — (a) in the case of an action for an account, be construed as references to the date on which the matter arose in respect of which an account is claimed; (b) in the case of an action upon a judgment, be construed as references to the date on which the judgment became enforceable; (c) in the case of an action to recover arrears of rent or interest, or damages in respect thereof, be construed as references to the date on which the rent or interest became due. Saving for other limitation laws 3. This Act shall not apply to any action or arbitration for which a period of limitation is prescribed by any other written law or to any action or arbitration to which the Government is a party and for which if it were between private persons a period of limitation would have been prescribed by any other written law. Limitation not to operate as a bar unless specially pleaded 4. Nothing in this Act shall operate as a bar to an action unless this Act has been expressly pleaded as a defence thereto in any case where under any written law relating to civil procedure for the time being in force such a defence is required to be so pleaded.

PART II Part II to be subject to Part III 5. The provisions of this Part shall have effect subject to the provisions of Part III. Action of contract and tort and certain other actions Limitation of actions of contract and tort and certain other actions 6.—(1) Subject to this Act, the following actions shall not be brought after the expiration of 6 years from the date on which the cause of action accrued: (a) actions founded on a contract or on tort; (b) actions to enforce a recognizance; (c) actions to enforce an award; (d) actions to recover any sum recoverable by virtue of any written law other than a penalty or forfeiture or sum by way of penalty or forfeiture. (2) An action for an account shall not be brought in respect of any matter which arose more than 6 years before the commencement of the action. (3) An action upon any judgment shall not be brought after the expiration of 12 years from the date on which the judgment became enforceable and no arrears of interest in respect of any judgment debt shall be recovered after the expiration of 6 years from the date on which the interest became due. (4) An action to recover any penalty or forfeiture or sum by way of penalty or forfeiture recoverable by virtue of any Act or other written law shall not be brought after the expiration of one year from the date on which the cause of action accrued. [22/92] (5) For the purposes of subsection (4), “penalty” shall not include a fine to which a person is liable on conviction for a criminal offence. (6) Nothing in this section shall apply to — (a) any cause of action within the admiralty jurisdiction of the High Court which is enforceable in rem other than an action to recover the wages of seamen; or (b) any action to recover money secured by any mortgage of or charge on land or personal property. [22/92] (7) Subject to sections 22 and 32, this section shall apply to all claims for specific performance of a contract or for an injunction or for other equitable relief whether the same be founded upon any contract or tort or upon any trust or other ground in equity. [22/92] Special time limit for claiming contribution 6A.—(1) Where under section 15 of the Civil Law Act (Cap. 43) any person becomes entitled to a right to recover contribution in respect of any damage from any other person, no action to recover contribution by virtue of that right shall, subject to subsection (3), be brought after the end of the period of 2 years from the date on which that right accrued. [Act 2 of 2012 wef 01/03/2012] (2) For the purposes of this section, the date on which a right to recover contribution in respect of any damage accrues to any person (referred to in this section as the relevant date) shall be ascertained as provided in subsections (3) and (5). (3) If the person in question is held liable in respect of that damage — (a) by a judgment given in any civil proceedings; or (b) by an award made on any arbitration, the relevant date shall be the date on which the judgment is given or the date of the award, as the case may be. (4) For the purposes of subsection (3), no account shall be taken of any judgment or award given or made on appeal in so far as it varies the amount of damages awarded against the person in question. (5) If, in any case not within subsection (3), the person in question makes or agrees to make any payment to one or more persons in compensation for that damage (whether he admits any liability in respect of the damage or not), the relevant date shall be the earliest date on which the amount to be paid by him is agreed between him (or his representative) and the person (or each of the persons, as the case may be) to whom the payment is to be made. (6) An action to recover contribution shall be one to which sections 24 and 29 apply, but otherwise Parts III and IV (except sections 30 and 33) shall not apply for the purposes of this section. [45/98 wef 01/01/1999] Limitation in case of successive conversions and extinction of title of owner of converted goods 7.—(1) Where any cause of action in respect of the conversion or wrongful detention of a chattel has accrued to any person and before he recovers possession of the chattel, a further conversion or wrongful detention takes place, no action shall be brought in respect of the further conversion or detention after the expiration of 6 years from the accrual of the cause of action in respect of the original conversion or detention. (2) Where any such cause of action has accrued to any person and the period prescribed for bringing that action and for bringing any action in respect of such a further conversion or wrongful detention under subsection (1) has expired and he has not during that period recovered possession of the chattel, the title of that person to the chattel shall be extinguished. Limitation of certain actions in respect of revenue matters 8. An action — (a) to set aside a sale in pursuance of the order of a collector or other officer of revenue; (b) to set aside a sale for arrears of Government revenue or for any demand recoverable as such arrears; (c) to set aside any attachment, lease or transfer of immovable property by the revenue authorities for arrears of Government revenue; (d) against the Government to recover money paid under protest in satisfaction of a claim made by the revenue authorities on account of arrears of revenue or on account of demands recoverable as such arrears, shall not be brought after the expiration of one year from the date on which the sale was confirmed or would otherwise have become final or conclusive had no such action been brought or when the attachment ceased or when the lease, transfer or payment was made, as the case may be. [14/69] Actions to recover land and rent Limitation of actions to recover land 9.—(1) No action shall be brought by any person to ...