STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS, 1957

• (3) Where there are two or more mortgagors of land, and the title or right to redemption of one of the mortgagors is acknowledged, the acknowledgment shall be deemed to have been made to all the mortgagors.

• (4)
• (a) An acknowledgment of a debt shall bind the acknowledgor and his successors but not any other person.

• (b) An acknowledgment of a statute-barred debt shall not bind any successor of the acknowledgor on whom the liability devolves on the determination of a preceding estate or interest in property under a settlement taking effect before the date of the acknowledgment.

• (5) An acknowledgment by one of several personal representatives of any claim to the personal estate of a deceased person or to any share or interest therein shall bind the estate of the deceased person.

60. Exemption of acknowledgment from stamp duty.

60.—No acknowledgment shall be deemed to be an agreement within the meaning of the F28[Stamp Duties Consolidation Act, 1999].

Chapter IV.

Part payment.

61. Meaning of “payment”.

61.—In this Chapter, “payment” means a payment made, under section 62, 63, 64, 65 or 66 of this Act, in accordance with section 67 of this Act.

62. Fresh accrual of right of action on payment (action by mortgagee to recover land).

62.—Where—

• (a) the right of a mortgagee of land to bring an action to recover the land has accrued, and

• (b) the person in possession of the land or the person liable for the mortgage debt makes any payment in respect thereof, whether of principal or interest,

the right of action shall be deemed to have accrued on and not before the date of the payment.

63. Fresh accrual of right of action on payment (action by incumbrancer claiming sale of land).

63.—Where—

• (a) the right of an incumbrancer of land to bring an action claiming sale of the land has accrued, and

• (b) the person in possession of the land or the person liable for the debt secured by the incumbrance makes any payment in respect thereof, whether of principal or interest,

the right of action shall be deemed to have accrued on and not before the date of the payment.

64. Effect of payment on right of action to redeem mort- gaged land in mortgagee’s possession.

64.—Where—

• (a) a mortgagee is by virtue of the mortgage in possession of any mortgaged land, and

• (b) the mortgagee receives any payment from the mortgagor in respect of the principal or interest of the mortgage debt,

an action to redeem the land in the mortgagee’s possession may be brought at any time before the expiration of twelve years from the date of the payment.

65. Fresh accrual of right of action on payment (action to recover debt).

65.—(1) Where—

• (a) any right of action has accrued to recover any debt, and

• (b) the person liable therefor makes any payment in respect thereof,

the right of action shall be deemed to have accrued on and not before the date of the payment.

• (2) Payment of interest in whole or in part shall for the purposes of this Chapter be treated as a payment in respect of the principal debt.

66. Fresh accrual of right of action on payment (action claiming personal estate of deceased person).

66.—Where—

• (a) any right of action has accrued to recover any claim to the personal estate of a deceased person or to any share or interest therein, and

• (b) the person accountable therefor makes any payment in respect thereof,

the right of action shall be deemed to have accrued on and not before the date of the payment.

67. Formal provisions as to payment.

67.—A payment under section 62, 63, 64, 65 or 66 of this Act—

• (a) may be made by the agent of the person by whom it is required to be made under whichever of those sections is applicable,

• (b) shall be made to the person or the agent of the person in respect of whose claim the payment is being made.

68. Effect of payment on persons other than the maker or recipient.

68.—(1) A payment in respect of a mortgage debt by the mortgagor or any person in possession of the mortgaged property shall, so far as any right of the mortgagee to recover the property is concerned, bind all persons in possession of the mortgaged property during the ensuing period of limitation.

• (2) Where—

• (a) two or more mortgagees of land are by virtue of the mortgage in possession of the land, and

• (b) one only of the mortgagees (in this subsection referred to as the recipient) receives any payment in respect of the principal or interest of the mortgage debt,

the following provisions shall have effect:—

• (i) the payment shall bind only the recipient and his successors and shall not bind any other mortgagee or his successors;

• (ii) if the recipient is entitled to a part of the mortgaged land and not to any ascertained part of the mortgaged debt, the mortgagor shall be entitled to redeem that part of the land on payment, with interest, of the part of the mortgage debt which, immediately before the recipient received the payment, referred to in paragraph (b) of this subsection, bore the same proportion to the whole of the debt as the value of that part of the land bears to the value of the whole of the land, less the amount of the payment.

• (3) Where there are two or more mortgagors of land, and the mortgagee, being in possession of the land, is paid any sum in respect of the principal or interest of the mortgage debt by one of the mortgagors, the payment shall be deemed to have been made by all the mortgagors.

• (4)
• (a) A payment made in respect of any debt shall, subject to paragraph (b) of this subsection, bind all persons liable in respect thereof.

• (b) A payment in respect of a statute-barred debt shall not bind—

• (i) any person other than the person making the payment and his successors, or

• (ii) any successor on whom the liability devolves on the determination of a preceding estate or interest in property under a settlement taking effect before the date of payment.

• (5) A payment by one of several personal representatives in respect of any claim to the personal estate of a deceased person shall bind the estate of the deceased person.

69. Appropriation of payment in respect of debts.

69.—(1) Where—

• (a) there exists a number of debts, and

• (b) the person liable therefor (in this section referred to as the debtor) makes any payment, whether on account or generally, to the person to whom he is liable (in this section referred to as the creditor), and

• (c) neither the debtor nor the creditor appropriates the sum paid to any particular debt or debts,

the following provisions shall have effect:—

• (i) if some of or all the debts are not statute-barred debts, the payment shall, for the purposes of this Chapter, unless the circumstances in which it was made indicate otherwise, be deemed to be appropriated pari passu in respect of each of the debts which are not statute-barred debts;

• (ii) if all the debts are statute-barred debts, the payment shall, for the purposes of this Chapter, unless the circumstances in which it was made indicate otherwise, be deemed to be appropriated pari passu in respect of each of the debts.

• (2) Nothing in subsection (1) of this section shall, where the debtor does not appropriate, operate to prevent the creditor from appropriating a payment made on account or generally to a particular debt or to particular debts or to all the debts (whether statute-barred debts or not), but such appropriation shall not by reason only of its being made by the creditor operate to make the payment a payment for the purposes of this Chapter in respect of such debt or debts, unless the circum-stances in which the payment was made by the debtor so indicate.

• (3) Where, under section 16 of the Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1896, a tenant against whom an ejectment has been brought pays two years’ rent, the payment shall, for the purposes of this Chapter, unless the circumstances in which it was made indicate otherwise, be deemed to be a payment in respect of all arrears which, at the date of the commencement of the proceedings in the ejectment, are not statute-barred debts.

70. Endorsement of payment by cred- itor not to be evidence of payment.

70.—No endorsement or memorandum of any payment written upon any bill of exchange or promissory note by or on behalf of the party to whom such payment is made shall be deemed to be evidence of such payment for the purposes of this Chapter.

Chapter V.

Fraud and mistake.

71. Postponement of limitation period in case of fraud.

71.—(1) Where, in the case of an action for which a period of limitation is fixed by this Act, either—

• (a) the action is based on the fraud of the defendant or his agent or of any person through whom he claims or his agent, or

• (b) the right of action is concealed by the fraud of any such person,

the period of limitation shall not begin to run until the plaintiff has discovered the fraud or could with reasonable diligence have discovered it.

• (2) Nothing in subsection (1) of this section shall enable an action to be brought to recover, or enforce any charge against, or set aside any transaction affecting, any property which has been purchased for valuable consideration by a person who was not a party to the fraud and did not at the time of the purchase know or have reason to believe that any fraud had been committed.

72. Postponement of limitation period in case of mistake.

72.—(1) Where, in the case of any action for which a period of limitation is fixed by this Act, the action is for relief from the consequences of mistake, the period of limitation shall not begin to run until the plaintiff has discovered the mistake or could with reasonable diligence have discovered it.

• (2) Nothing in subsection (1) of this section shall enable any action to be brought to recover, or enforce any charge against, or set aside any transaction affecting, any property which has been purchased for valuable consideration, subsequently to the transaction in which the mistake was made, by a person who did not know or have reason to believe that the mistake was made.

PART IV.

Application of this Act and other Limitation Enactments to Arbitrations.

73. Interpretation (Part IV).

73.—In this Part of this Act—

“the Court” means the High Court.

74. Commencement of arbitration.

F29[74.—(1) For the purposes of this Act and for the purposes of any other limitation enactment, arbitral proceedings shall be deemed to be commenced on—

• (a) the date on which the parties to an arbitration agreement so provide as being the commencement date for the purposes of the commencement of arbitral proceedings under the agreement, or

• (b) where no provision has been made by the parties as to commencement as referred to in paragraph (a), the date on which a written communication containing a request for the dispute to be referred to arbitration is received by the respondent.

• (2) For the purposes of subsection (1)(b), unless the parties otherwise agree, a written communication is deemed to have been received if it is served or given to the respondent in one or more of the following ways:

• (a) by delivering it to the respondent personally;

• (b) by delivering it to the respondent’s place of business, habitual residence or postal address;

• (c) where none of the addresses referred to in paragraph (b) can be found after making reasonable inquiry, by sending it by pre-paid registered post or by any other form of recorded delivery service addressed to the respondent at his or her last known place of business, habitual residence or postal address.

• (3) Unless the parties otherwise agree, where a written communication under this section has been delivered to a respondent in accordance with subsection (2), the communication is deemed to have been received on the day it was so delivered.

• (4) For the purposes of subsection (2), a company registered under the Companies Acts shall be deemed to be habitually resident at its registered office in the State and every other body corporate (wherever it is incorporated) and every unincorpor-ated body (wherever it carries out its activities) shall be deemed to be habitually resident at its principal office or place of business.]

75. Application of Act and other limita- tion enactments to arbitrations.

75.—This Act and any other limitation enactment shall apply to arbitrations as they apply to actions in the Court.

76. Accrual of cause of action where agreement makes award thereunder a condition precedent to commencement of action.

76.—Notwithstanding any term in an arbitration agreement to the effect that no cause of action shall accrue in respect of any matter required by the agreement to be referred until an award is made under the agreement, the cause of action shall, for the purposes of this Act and of any other limitation enactment (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 agreement.

77. Power of Court to extend time where it sets aside award or orders arbitration to cease to have effect.

77.—Where the Court orders that an award be set aside F30[...], 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 fixed by this Act or any other limitation enactment for the commencement of proceedings (including arbitration) with respect to the dispute referred.

78. Application of Part IV to arbitra- tions under other Acts.

78.—This Part of this Act shall apply to an arbitration under an Act as well as to an arbitration pursuant to an arbitration agreement, and section 74 of this Act 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 provi-sions of the Act or of any order, scheme, rules, regulations or bye-laws made thereunder as relate to the arbitration.

79. Saving for other enactments relat- ing to limitation of arbitrations.

79.—This Act shall not apply to—

• (a) any arbitration for which a period of limitation is fixed by any other enact-ment, or

• (b) any arbitration to which a State authority is a party and for which, if that State authority were a private individual, a period of limitation would be fixed by any other enactment.

80. Arbitrations pending on the operative date.

80.—Nothing in this Act shall effect an arbitration commenced before the operative date or the title to any property which is the subject of any such arbitration.

Section 9.

SCHEDULE.

Enactments Repealed.

Part I.

Acts of the Parliament of Ireland.

Session and Chapter. Extent of Repeal.

• (1) (3)

6 Ann. c. 10 (Ir.). Section 17, so far as unrepealed.

8 Geo. 1. c.4 (Ir.). The whole Act, so far as unrepealed.

Part II.

Acts of the Parliament of the late United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Session and Chapter. Extent of Repeal.

• (1) (3)

48 Geo. 3. c. 47. The whole Act.

9 Geo. 4. c. 14. Sections 1, 3, 4, so far as unre-pealed, and 8.

3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 27. The whole Act, so far as unre-pealed.

7 Will. 4 & 1 Vic. c. 28. The whole Act.

3 & 4 Vic. c. 105. Sections 32 to 36, so far as unrepealed.

5 & 6 Vic. c. 97. Section 5.

6 & 7 Vic. c. 54. The whole Act, so far as unre-pealed.

7 & 8 Vic. c. 27. The whole Act, so far as unre-pealed.

14 & 15 Vic. c. 93. Paragraph 4 of section 10, save in so far as it relates to summary proceedings of a criminal nature in the District Court.

16 & 17 Vic. c. 113. Sections 20 to 27.

19 & 20 Vic. c. 97. Sections 9 to 14.

22 Vic. c. 14. The whole Act.

23 & 24 Vic. c. 38. Section 13.

33 & 34 Vic. c. 46. In section 50, the words “No arrears of any annuity charged on land in pursuance of this Act shall be recoverable after the expiration of two years from the date at which the sum in arrear became due;”.

37 & 38 Vic. c. 57. The whole Act.

39 & 40 Vic. c. 37. The whole Act.

40 & 41 Vic. c. 57. Subsection (2) of section 28.

47 & 48 Vic. c. 71. In section 3, the words “within the same time and”.

51 & 52 Vic. c. 59. The whole Act, so far as unre-pealed.

6 Edw. 7. c. 28. Section 9.

Part III.

Acts of the Oireachtas of Saorstát Éireann.

Number and Year. Extent of Repeal.

• (1) (3)

No. 27 of 1924. Subsection (2) of section 38, to the extent to which it is inconsistent with this Act.

No. 36 of 1933. In paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section 19, the word “and” at the end of the para-graph; paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of section 19.

Part IV.

Acts of the Oireachtas.

Number and Year. Extent of Repeal.

• (1) (3)

No. 26 of 1939. Section 6, to the extent to which it is inconsistent with this Act.

No. 18 of 1954. Section 311, to the extent to which it is inconsistent with this Act.

No. 26 of 1954. In subsection (1) of section 2, the definition of the expres-sion “the statutes of limita-tion”; in subsection (1) of section 3, the words “and for the purpose of the statutes of limitation as applying to arbitrations”; sections 42 to 44.