Erin said: 'For example, the myth that all records must be kept for 7 years. '

The following provides a useful summary of why many records are kept
for 7 years - as you will, originally the idea you had six years in
which to make certain claims.  Therefore, you had to keep records
relating to those issues for at least 6 years, and then after 7 years
destroy them.  Some jurisdictions in the English speaking world
continue to use a retention period of 'Keep for a minimum of 6 years'.
 The source of this useful summary, quoted 'as is' is at the end.

The old law in England
2.2	A number of English statutes  of ancient origin subjected legal
claims to time limits within which an action had to be brought, but
these were fixed by reference to a particular date or event - so, for
example, a plaintiff bringing a writ of right to recover freehold land
had to show a disseisin by the defendant at some time after the year
1189, this being the year in which Richard I became King. 2 Beginning
with the Limitation of Prescription Act 1540, statutes instead began
to state limitation periods in terms of a fixed number of years. The
most important of these statutes was the Limitation Act of 1623, which
remained in force until1939 and formed the basis for limitation
statutes throughout the common law world.

2.3	This Act applied to a variety of personal actions, and set out a
number of different limitation periods -

Two years
- actions for slander

Four years
- actions of trespass to the person, assault, menace, battery,
wounding and imprisonment

Six years	
- actions on the case (other than for slander)
- actions for account, other than such accounts as concern the trade
of merchandise between merchant and merchant, their factors or
servants
- actions of trespass, detinue, action sur trover, and replevin for
taking away of goods or cattle
- actions of debt grounded upon any lending or contract without specialty
- actions of debt for arrears of rent actions of trespass to land

It also provided for an extension of time where the plaintiff was
under the age of 21, a married woman ("feme covert"), mentally
disabled ("non compos mentis"), imprisoned or "beyond the seas".

2.4	By 1934, when the law of limitation of actions was referred to the
Wright Committee, the major statutory provisions were -

- The  Limitation  Act 1623 (21 James I c 16), 3 summarised above,
which set out most of the general limitation  periods which applied in
actions at common law. This had been amended by the Administration of
Justice Act 1705 (4 & 5 Anne c 3), the   Statute  of Frauds Amendment
Act 1828 (9 Geo IV c 14) and the Mercantile Law Amendment Act 1856 (19
& 20 Vic c 97).
- The Crown Suits Act 1769 (9 Geo III c 16) - sometimes called the
Nullum Tempus Act - which dealt with limitation periods in actions
against the Crown. This Act was amended by the Crown Suits Act 1861
(24 & 25 Vic c 62).
- The Civil Procedure Act 1833 (3 & 4 Will IV c 42), which prescribed
limitation periods for certain actions of debt and for statutory
penalties.

3	Regnal years are included here because the  statutes  are referred
to by this means in the marginal notes to the  Limitation  Act 1935 ,
and also in the Limitation Acts of some other jurisdictions.

Source: Western Australian Law Reform Commission, 'Final Report on
Limitation  and Notice of Actions (1997)'
http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/other/walrc/36/P36-II-R.html?query=^statute%20of%20limitations

Regards

Andrew Warland
Sydney, Australia
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