CHAPTER 72
LAW REFORM (LIMITATION OF ACTIONS, ETC.) ACT

Arrangement of Sections

   Section

   1.   Short title

   2.   Non-application of Public Authorities Protection Act, 1893, and section 21 of Limitation Act, 1939

   3.   Amendment of Limitation Act, 1939, as respects personal injury actions

   4.   Amendment of Fatal Accidents Act, 1846

   5.   Application to the Republic

   6.   Transitional provisions

AN ACT

to assimilate in certain respects the law applicable to proceedings against public authorities (including the Republic) and persons acting in pursuance or execution or intended execution of enactments to that applicable in other cases; to amend the law as to the time limited for bringing legal proceedings and as to the survival of causes of action against the estates of deceased persons; and to provide for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.

[26th April, 1963]

Act 13 of 1963,

Act 26 of 1967,

GN 497 of 1964,

SI 72 of 1964.

1. Short title

This Act may be cited as the Law Reform (Limitation of Actions, etc.) Act.

2. Non-application of Public Authorities Protection Act, 1893, and section 21 of Limitation Act, 1939

The Public Authorities Protection Act, 1893, and section 21 of the Limitation Act, 1939, of the United Kingdom, shall cease to have effect in the Republic.

3. Amendment of Limitation Act, 1939, as respects personal injury actions

In its application to the Republic, the Limitation Act, 1939, of the United Kingdom, is hereby amended as follows—

      (a)   by the insertion of the following proviso at the end of sub-section (1) of section 2:

Provided that, in the case of actions for damages for negligence, nuisance or breach of duty (whether the duty exists by virtue of a contract or of provision made by or under a statute or independently of any contract or any such provision) where the damages claimed by the plaintiff for the negligence, nuisance or breach of duty consist of or include damages in respect of personal injuries to any person, this sub-section shall have effect as if for the reference to six years there were substituted a reference to three years.

      (b)   by the addition at the end of section 22 of the following sub-section:

   (2) In the case of actions for damages for negligence, nuisance or breach of duty (whether the duty exists by virtue of a contract or of provision made by or under a statute or independently of any contract or any such provision) where the damages claimed by the plaintiff for the negligence, nuisance or breach of duty consist of or include damages in respect of personal injuries to any person—

      (a)   the preceding provisions of this section shall have effect as if for the words “six years” there were substituted the words “three years”; and

      (b)   this section shall not apply unless the plaintiff proves that the person under the disability was not, at the time when the right of action accrued to him, in the custody of a parent.

      (c)   by the insertion in sub-section (1) of section 31 after the definition of “personal property” of the following definition:

“personal injuries” includes any disease and any impairment of a person’s physical or mental condition.