Uploaded December 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
BOOK REVIEW
PRESCRIPTION IN TORT LAW
Edited by Israel Gilead and Bjarte Askeland
ISBN 978 1 78068 963 0
INTERSENTIA LTD
European Group on Tort Law
intersentia.com
A WELCOME STATEMENT ON FINALITY OF PROCEEDINGS IN THE LAW OF TORT
An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor MA of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister”, and Mediator
This new work from Intersentia entitled “Prescription in Tort Law” has been edited by Israel Gilead and Bjarte Askeland. It is the result of a three-year research project lead by the European Group on Tort Law (EGTL) and it brings together 24 leading academics of this field of tortious liability.
We support the view that this work is an invaluable resource for private legal practitioners, academics, researchers, and students. The problem, as always, rests with policy decisions on the imposition of time limits to commence proceedings, and the complexity of the law of tort which is not as easy as it may first appear, especially to students new to this legal area.
“Prescription” has been described as “a major legal defence that bars civil actions on the claim after the expiry of a certain period of time”- in other words, the expedient policy of finality of proceedings which is a policy most judges fully support. The issue remains of when the claimant realises that a cause of action has arisen rather than when the time runs from an event which causes the creation of tortious liability.
Despite its far-reaching practical effects on litigation and on society at large thanks to policy directive at the top of the legal world to limit endless litigation, and the fact that it is the subject matter of “pervasive legal reforms” in many developed countries, sadly the law of prescription (limitation of actions) is rarely analysed, discussed, and compared. Gilead and Askeland make up for this deficit with this excellent collection of views across a range of jurisdictions from Austria to the United States of America.
And to meet their challenge, this book’s contributors canvass, in substantial detail, the law of 15 selected jurisdictions (covering Europe, South Africa and the US jurisdictions). Their mission is to analyse extensively a comparative perspective of the components of “prescription”. That means the accrual of the cause of action, prescription periods, rules of suspension, renewal, extension, and so on. The commentators also review their interrelations, and the policy considerations (including economic analysis) which play such an important part in this subject.
Topics also covered include the notions of ‘action’, ‘claim’, and ‘cause of action’, subjective and objective prescription, statute interpretation and judicial discretion. The book concludes with a useful section on how the present law can be improved and where suitable “harmonised” which is, possibly, more of a wish than a hard possibility.
Whilst the contributors focus is directed at the prescription of tort claims, the analysis, comparison, and interesting if rather impractical conclusions may be highly relevant to most civil actions. But one last word of warning to common law practitioners who like English Land Law easements – do not confuse your “prescriptions” with the Prescription Act 1832 which deals with a rather different concept entirely!
The date of publication of this paperback edition is cited as 5th October 2020.
Do visit the publisher's website for recent developments and new titles.
BOOK REVIEW
PRESCRIPTION IN TORT LAW
Edited by Israel Gilead and Bjarte Askeland
ISBN 978 1 78068 963 0
INTERSENTIA LTD
European Group on Tort Law
intersentia.com
A WELCOME STATEMENT ON FINALITY OF PROCEEDINGS IN THE LAW OF TORT
An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor MA of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister”, and Mediator
This new work from Intersentia entitled “Prescription in Tort Law” has been edited by Israel Gilead and Bjarte Askeland. It is the result of a three-year research project lead by the European Group on Tort Law (EGTL) and it brings together 24 leading academics of this field of tortious liability.
We support the view that this work is an invaluable resource for private legal practitioners, academics, researchers, and students. The problem, as always, rests with policy decisions on the imposition of time limits to commence proceedings, and the complexity of the law of tort which is not as easy as it may first appear, especially to students new to this legal area.
“Prescription” has been described as “a major legal defence that bars civil actions on the claim after the expiry of a certain period of time”- in other words, the expedient policy of finality of proceedings which is a policy most judges fully support. The issue remains of when the claimant realises that a cause of action has arisen rather than when the time runs from an event which causes the creation of tortious liability.
Despite its far-reaching practical effects on litigation and on society at large thanks to policy directive at the top of the legal world to limit endless litigation, and the fact that it is the subject matter of “pervasive legal reforms” in many developed countries, sadly the law of prescription (limitation of actions) is rarely analysed, discussed, and compared. Gilead and Askeland make up for this deficit with this excellent collection of views across a range of jurisdictions from Austria to the United States of America.
And to meet their challenge, this book’s contributors canvass, in substantial detail, the law of 15 selected jurisdictions (covering Europe, South Africa and the US jurisdictions). Their mission is to analyse extensively a comparative perspective of the components of “prescription”. That means the accrual of the cause of action, prescription periods, rules of suspension, renewal, extension, and so on. The commentators also review their interrelations, and the policy considerations (including economic analysis) which play such an important part in this subject.
Topics also covered include the notions of ‘action’, ‘claim’, and ‘cause of action’, subjective and objective prescription, statute interpretation and judicial discretion. The book concludes with a useful section on how the present law can be improved and where suitable “harmonised” which is, possibly, more of a wish than a hard possibility.
Whilst the contributors focus is directed at the prescription of tort claims, the analysis, comparison, and interesting if rather impractical conclusions may be highly relevant to most civil actions. But one last word of warning to common law practitioners who like English Land Law easements – do not confuse your “prescriptions” with the Prescription Act 1832 which deals with a rather different concept entirely!
The date of publication of this paperback edition is cited as 5th October 2020.
Do visit the publisher's website for recent developments and new titles.
