What does statute of limitations mean?

Question

What does statute of limitations mean?

Answer 1

I think it's how long a suspect can be considered a suspect in a court case.

Answer 2

You can't be charged with a crime after a length of time has passed

Answer 3

The phrase has to do with the time limits within which a criminal defendant can be prosecuted. The statutes of limitations are simply laws establishing these time limits. For example, in the federal criminal system, a prosecutor has only five years from the date a bank robbery is committed to file charges against the bank robber. (Where state criminal laws are involved, these time limits will vary from state to state, and will depend upon the type of offense involved.)

Once that five years is up, that robber can cite the statute of limitations, thumb his nose at the prosecutor and go scot free. That may sound crazy, but there is a rationale for these statutes. They're passed to give law enforcement personnel an incentive to act swiftly and efficiently, and to protect everyone from the confusion that results when cases are premised on witnesses' memories fading and evidence that's less reliable as time goes by. Don't panic about murderers running around free, though -- there is generally no statute of limitations for murder.

But what about the tolling, you ask? When the statute of limitations tolls, that means it has been legally suspended -- in other words, the clock stops running for a certain period of time -- and the five or however many years gets further away.

Tolling most commonly occurs when the defendant becomes a fugitive from the jurisdiction where he committed the crime. For example, let's say that Jesse James robs a bank in Dodge City, Kansas on July 1, 2006. The next day, James flees Kansas h**l-bent on escaping capture, and he hides out in the Badlands of South Dakota for six years. James is then caught and charged by the feds with bank robbery on July 1, 2012. James will not be able to get his case thrown out by arguing that the five-year limit for prosecuting his case has passed. Instead, the judge will rule that the statute of limitations tolled (was suspended) during the six years that James was on the lam, and the prosecution can go forward.

Answer 4

A statute of limitations is a law setting forth the maximum period of time after certain events that legal proceedings based on those events may be begun. For example, a state might have a statute limiting prosecution for misdemeanors to two years. In such a state, if a person is discovered to have committed a misdemeanor three years ago, he cannot now be prosecuted for it.

A crime (in the case of a criminal prosecution) or a cause of action (in a civil suit) is said to have accrued when the event beginning its time limitation occurs. Sometimes this is the event itself that is the subject of the suit or prosecution (such as a crime or personal injury), but it may also be an event such as the discovery of a condition one wishes to redress, such as discovering a defect in a manufactured good.

One reason for statutes of limitations is fairness; that is, over time memories fade, evidence is lost or never found, and people need to get on with their lives without legal intrusions from the past. The length of these statutes varies from country to country and state to state and often depend on the type of civil action or the seriousness of the crime. Some crimes such as murder are so horrific to society that they have no statute of limitations.

Another reason for statutes of limitations is closure or certainty. At some point, society will no longer make its tribunals available for dispute resolution or law enforcement people will stop using public resources to investigate a given crime. For civil actions, statutes of limitations usually range between one and ten years. In California, for example, the statute of limitations for most personal injury actions (including those resulting from car accidents) is one year from the date of the accident. In Nevada it is two years, and in New Mexico, three.

Once the statute of limitations on a case runs out, future ligitation is foreclosed. Most jurisdictions provide that limitations are tolled under certain circumstances. Tolling will prevent the time for filing suit from running while the condition exists. Examples of such circumstances are if the aggreived party (plaintiff) is a minor, or the defendant has filed a bankruptcy proceeding. In those instances, in most jurisdictions, the running of limitations is tolled until the circumstance (i.e. the injured party reaches majority in the former or the bankruptcy proceeding is concluded in the later) no longer exists.

A special case of the statute of limitations is a statute of repose. This applies to buildings and properties, and limits the time during which an action may lie based upon defects or hazards connected to the construction of the building or premises. An example of this would be that if a person is electrocuted by a wiring defect incorporated into a structure in, say, 1990, a state law may allow him or his heirs to sue only before 1997 in the case of an open (patent) defect, or before 2000 in the case of a hidden defect.

There may be a number of factors which will affect the tolling of a statute of limitations. In many cases, the discovery of the harm (as in a medical malpractice claim where the fact or the impact of the doctor's mistake is not immediately apparent) starts the statute running. In some jurisdictions the action is said to have not accrued until the harm is discovered, while in others the action accrues when the malpractice occurs, but an action to redress the harm is tolled until the injured party discovers the harm. An action to redress a tort committed against a minor is generally tolled in most cases until the child reaches the age of majority. A ten-year-old who is injured in a car accident might therefore be able to bring suit one, two or three years after he turns eighteen.

Answer 5

where's this statue u talk of my lord?

Answer 6

It means a time limit on a certain thing. A limit as to how long  you can ,say sue someone for something. If you only have a year to do it ,that is the limitation.

Answer 7

It means if you have a claim against someone and they refuse to honor it, then you have to bring a lawsuit or a prosecution promptly--within a specific time.  That time is the "statute of limitations."    It's often written in the laws of the land in terms of a particular number of years.  

It basically means that if there is a dispute, it ought to be resolved before it gets too old.  If you "blow the statute of limitations", then the judge will say--"Hey, you've known about this forever--why are you asking me to settle something now after all these years?  There ought to be a time, after which, a man who's done this wrong goes free!"

Which is what my husband aways says to me.

That's the simplistic view, but it's much more complicated, as the link below and research of the term will show.

Answer 8

It means the limit of time you have to press a charge or sue.  For some crimes, there is a 'statute of limitations', meaning if no suspect is found in a certain time frame, those charges are dropped from the books (they stop looking for a suspect permanently).

For lawsuits, there is a certain time period to file the suit.  If you wait too long after the event, you cannot sue.

Answer 9

It's like a time limit. If the statute of limitations for rape is 20 years, and they caught the rapist 21 years after it happened or even 20 years and 1 day, they can't press charges for rape. There is no statute of limitations for murder, though.

Answer 10

The time in which after a crime is committed that it can be prosecuted.

Answer 11

It means that, after an allotted period of time has passed, you cannot be brought to trial for a previous crime committed.  I believe murder, rape, and kidnapping are the only three that have no statute of limitations.

Answer 12

A statute of limitations is a statute in a common law legal system that sets forth the maximum period of time, after certain events, that legal proceedings based on those events may be initiated. In civil law systems, similar provisions are usually part of the civil code or criminal code and are often known collectively as "periods of prescription" or "prescriptive periods."