In civil matters, prescription is acquisitive – a person’s possession of property for a certain period of time gives him ownership of the good; or extinctive prescription, which we will detail below.
The limitation period extinguishes the person’s right of action if it is not exercised within a certain period. In Romanian law, the rule is represented by the prescriptibility of the right to action, the general term being 3 years.
But from any rule there must be exceptions, so there are situations when the right of action is imprescriptible, namely, rights regarding:
- action for the defence of a non-property right;
- action for a declaration of the existence or non-existence of a right;
- action for declaration of absolute nullity of a legal act;
- action for declaration of absolute nullity of the certificate of succession, under certain conditions.
The limitation period fulfilled on the main obligation entails the extinction of the right of action and on the ancillary obligations, at which point the debtor may refuse to perform the service.
As mentioned above, the general limitation period is 3 years, but there are situations in which it can be 10 years, 2 years or even 1 year.
The Romanian legislature offers the creditor who, for serious reasons, has not fulfilled his obligation within the time limit to request the restoration of the limitation period and the trial of the case. In order for this application for relief to be granted, it is necessary to prove these good reasons and the person exercises this right of action within 30 days of the day on which he knew or ought to have known of the termination of the reasons justifying the exceeding of the limitation period.
As a rule, limitation runs from the moment when the obligation becomes due and its debtor had to perform it. Its course can be interrupted or suspended, until it finally ends up being fulfilled.
In criminal matters, too, the role of limitation is to extinguish a right of action in relation to criminal liability or execution of the criminal sentence to which the defendant has been sentenced.
Although prescription is the rule, there are situations in which the facts are imprescriptible and its author can be held liable at any time. Such imprescriptible acts are the crimes of genocide, against humanity and war – regardless of when they were committed, the crimes of murder and aggravated murder, or the acts that resulted in the death of the victim.
Compared to civil law, where there is a rule regarding the limitation period, in criminal matters it is determined according to the legal penalty for the crime committed, thus there are terms of 3 years, 5 years, 8 years, 10 years and even 15 years.
Also, the moment from which this term runs is different, being related to the type of infraction committed. Thus, in the case of an instantaneous offence, the time limit runs from the very moment when it was committed, whereas in the case of a continuing offence, the time limit runs from the moment it is exhausted.
A more special situation arises in the case of progesive offences, the limitation period being calculated in relation to the more serious consequence that has occurred, but it runs from the moment the crime was committed.
With regard to the perscription that removes the execution of the sentence, the situation is similar to the case of accountability, but slightly more complex. In this case, the term does not refer to the statutory penalty of the crime, but to the punishment actually determined in the defendant’s crime. Thus, in order to enforce a fine sentence, the state has a period of 3 years in which to request the execution of the obligation, while in the case of a prison sentence of more than 15 years or life imprisonment, it can be requested within 15 years. In the case of sentences less than or equal to 15 years, the term is composed of a period of 5 years plus the duration of the prescribed sentence, but the final limitation period cannot be more than 15 years.
In this case, the limitation period runs from the moment when the conviction remained definitive. The course of this limitation period may be interrupted by the commencement of execution of the sentence or the commission of a new offence. Also, absconding from execution after the start of the execution of the sentence causes a new limitation period to run.
We conclude by noting the importance of the limitation period in the legal system, which regulates the time limit within which rights and obligations can be exercised or invoked before courts or other legal proceedings. Knowledge and understanding of this concept are essential for a good management of rights and obligations in modern society.
