header-logo header-logo

No limits

02 November 2012 / Victoria Beel , Richard Scorer
Issue: 7536 / Categories: Features , Personal injury
printer mail-detail

Should there be a civil claim time limit, ask Richard Scorer & Victoria Beel

True justice cannot be time-limited, but courts hearing allegations many decades later can face difficulties in assessing allegations fairly if witnesses have died, memories have faded and documents have gone missing. A claim arising from the systematic torture and abuse suffered in Kenya under the colonial administration in the 1950s & 1960s was subject to a preliminary High Court judgment on limitation on 5 October. Mr Justice McCombe granted the claimants permission to bring their cases 50 years outside the primary limitation period. The court exercised its discretion under s 33 of the Limitation Act 1980 (LA 1980), which permits the limitation period to be waived where it is equitable to do so.

It is accepted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) that the claimants were subject to serious mistreatment during their time in screening camps in Kenya during the Mau Mau insurgency. The abuses included castration, rape and violent beatings – the most vile torture imaginable. The FCO

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll