Limitation Act 1963

Limitation Act 1963

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Citation	1963 c. 47
Territorial extent	England and Wales Scotland Northern Ireland
Dates
Royal assent	31 July 1963
Repealed	1 May 1981
Other legislation
Repealed by	Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 Limitation Act 1975 Limitation Act 1980
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Limitation Act 1963 (c. 47) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that amended the statute of limitations to allow actions in some cases where the injured party had not discovered the injury until after the standard date of expiration. The Act was based on the report of the Davies Committee on Limitation of Actions in Cases of Personal Injury, created after the Court of Appeal decision in the case of Cartledge v Jopling, and the Committee notably produced their final report before Cartledge had been heard in the House of Lords. The draft bill was presented to Parliament on 6 May 1963; it was given the Royal Assent on 31 July and came into force on the same day.

The act allowed an injured party to bring a claim outside the normal statute of limitations period if he could show that he was not aware of the injuries himself until after the limitation period had expired and if he gained the permission of the court. After a series of problems emerged, including vagueness on a point even the House of Lords was unable to clarify and poor draftsmanship, the Act was repealed bit by bit during the 1970s, with the Limitation Act 1980 scrapping the last remaining sections.