Limitation Act

Section Interpretation Section In Part III of this Act, 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— In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— “ action ” includes any proceeding in a court ; “ award ” means an award of an arbitrator under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, or a foreign award within the meaning of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act; “ court ” means the High Court or a magistrate’s court ; “ enactment ” means a legislative instrument having effect in Uganda; “ land ” includes corporeal hereditaments and rent charges, and any legal or equitable estate or interest in them, including an interest in the proceeds of the sale of land held on trust for sale, but except as provided in this definition does not include any incorporeal hereditament; “ magistrate’s court ” means a court established under the Magistrates Courts Act; “ officer ”, in relation to the Government, includes the President, a Minister and any servant of the Government; “ personal estates ” and “personal property” do not include chattels real; “ personal injuries ” includes any disease and any impairment of a person’s physical or mental condition; “ personal representative ” has the same meaning as in the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act; “ rent ” includes a rent charge ; “ rent charge ” means any annuity or periodical sum of money charged upon or payable out of land , except interest on a mortgage of land ; “ submission ” means a written agreement to submit present or future differences to arbitration, whether an arbitrator is named in the agreement or not; “ trust ”, “ trustee ” and “ trust for sale ” have the same meanings respectively as in the Trustees Act. For the purposes of this Act, proceedings by or against the Government shall include proceedings by or against any Government department or officer of the Government as such. For the purposes of this Act, a person shall be deemed to be under a disability while he or she is an infant or suffers from mental illness. For the purposes of subsection (3) , but without prejudice to its generality, a person shall be conclusively presumed to be suffering from mental illness while he or she is detained in pursuance of any enactment authorising the detention of persons suffering from mental illness or criminal lunatics. A person shall be deemed to claim through another person if he or she 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. 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 rent charges, to distrain for arrears of rent , and references to the bringing of an action in respect of such a right of action shall include references to the making of such an entry or distress. References in this Act to the possession of land shall, in the case of rent charges, 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 rent charges, be construed as references to the date of the last receipt of rent . 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; in the case of an action upon a judgment, be construed as references to the date on which the judgment became enforceable; in the case of an action to recover arrears of rent or interest, or damages in respect of those arrears, be construed as references to the date on which the rent or interest became due.

Section Part II to be subject to provisions of Part III relating to disability, acknowledgment, fraud, etc. Section The provisions of this Part shall have effect subject to the provisions of Part III of this Act, which provide for the extension of the periods of limitation in the case of disability, acknowledgment, part payment, fraud and mistake.

Section Application of Act and other limitation enactments to arbitrations Section This Act and any other enactment relating to the limitation of actions shall apply to arbitrations as they apply to actions in the court . Notwithstanding any term in a submission to the effect that no cause of action shall accrue in respect of any matter required by the submission to be referred until an award is made under the submission , the cause of action shall, for the purpose of this Act and of any other enactment relating to the limitation of actions, whether in their application to arbitrations or to other proceedings, be deemed to have accrued in respect of any such matter at the time when it would have accrued but for that term in the submission . For the purpose of this Act and of any other enactment relating to the limitation of actions, an arbitration shall be deemed to be commenced when one party to the arbitration serves on the other party a notice requiring him or her to appoint an arbitrator or to agree to the appointment of an arbitrator or, where the submission provides that the reference shall be to a person named or designated in the submission , requiring him or her to submit the dispute to the person so named or designated. Any notice referred to in subsection (3) may be served in the manner prescribed by the Civil Procedure Rules for the service of summonses, as well as in any other manner provided in the submission . Where the High Court orders that an award be set aside or orders, after the commencement of an arbitration, that the arbitration shall cease to have effect with respect to the dispute referred, the court may further order that the period between the commencement of the arbitration and the date of the order of the court shall be excluded in computing the time prescribed by this Act or any other enactment relating to the limitation of actions for the commencement of proceedings, including arbitration, with respect to the dispute referred. This section shall apply to an arbitration under an enactment as well as to an arbitration pursuant to a submission , and subsections (3) and (4) shall have effect, in relation to an arbitration under an Act, as if for the references to the arbitration agreement there were substituted references to such of the provisions of the enactment or of any order, scheme, rules, regulations or by-laws made under the Act as relate to the arbitration.

Section Provisions as to setoff or counterclaim Section For the purposes of this Act, any claim by way of setoff or counterclaim shall be deemed to be a separate action and to have been commenced on the same date as the action in which the setoff or counterclaim is pleaded.

Section Acquiescence Section Nothing in this Act shall affect any equitable jurisdiction to refuse relief on the ground of acquiescence or otherwise.

Section Application of Act to registered land Section Without prejudice to the operation of section 171 of the Registration of Titles Act, which contains certain provisions relating to the limitation of actions, this Act shall apply to land registered under the Registration of Titles Act in the same manner and to the same extent as it applies to land not so registered, except that where, if the land were not registered, the estate of the person registered as proprietor would be extinguished, that estate shall not be extinguished but shall be deemed to be held by the person registered as proprietor for the time being in trust for the person who, by virtue of this Act, has acquired title against any person registered as proprietor, but without prejudice to the estates and interests of any other person interested in the land whose estate or interest is not extinguished by this Act.

Section Application of Act to proceedings by or against Government Section Subject to section 31 and the other provisions of this Act, this Act shall apply to proceedings by or against the Government as they apply to proceedings between private persons.

Section Miscellaneous savings Section Nothing in this Act shall— affect the right of the Uganda Land Commission to public land vested in it by virtue of the Constitution or of the Public Land Act, Cap. 201 (Revised Edition, 1964) or apply to an action brought by the Uganda Land Commission to recover possession of such land ; apply to any proceedings by the Government for the recovery of any tax or duty or the interest on it or to any forfeiture proceedings under the East African Community Customs Management Act or to any proceedings in respect to the forfeiture of a ship; apply to any criminal proceedings; or affect any right to mines and minerals vested in the Government.

Section Saving for other limitation enactments Section This Act shall not apply to any action or arbitration for which a period of limitation is prescribed by any other enactment , 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 be prescribed by any other enactment .