History Main / StatuteOfLimitations

* ''VisualNovel/FamicomDetectiveClub Part II'': One of the aspects from the plot was trying to solve the murder of Genjiro Kaneda from 15 years ago, which was going to expire ten days after the day Yoko Kojima was found to have been murdered.

* AllForNothing: ''Literature/MegLangslowMysteries: We'll Always Have Parrots'': Michael’s NervousWreck agent is a former 70s radical who changed his name and took a job he never really liked after breaking into a government office and burning draft cards. It turns out that he broke into the wrong office and burned dog licenses instead, and even if he had been burning draft cards, [[AllForNothing since no one got hurt, the statute of limitations would have expired many, many years ago]].

* Sometimes invoked on ''Series/ColdCase'' as the statute of limitations has expired on some lesser offenses, allowing the suspects to be more honest about what happened involving the murder that's the main focus of the story.

* One ''Series/PerryMason'' features a former embezzler being blackmailed. While the statute of limitations has expired, the scandal threatens the marriage prospects of his daughters, and he'd have to pay back the money (which his company is built upon) once he was exposed.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E60TheRipVanWinkleCaper The Rip Van Winkle Caper]]'', criminals rob a bank, then go into suspended animation cells [[CutLexLuthorACheck that one of the criminals has invented]] to escape the statute of limitations. It works, but when they get out the gold they stole is [[WorthlessYellowRocks worthless]]. Not to mention by the time the audience learns this all of them are dead.

* On ''Series/{{Castle}}'' Ryan used to work undercover and infiltrated an Irish gang. When he was pulled out, his cover identity was preserved by making it seem like he was going to be charged with numerous crimes and had to flee the state. Years later, when Ryan has to go back undercover with the gang, he claims that the statute of limitations has expired on those crimes and he was thus free to return to New York.

* ''VisualNovel/FamicomDetectiveClub Part II'': One of the aspects from the plot was trying to solve the murder of Goro Kaneda from 15 years ago, which was going to expire ten days after the day Yoko Kojima was found to have been murdered.

* Comes up briefly in Literature/TheMilleniumTrilogy. RetiredBadass Henrik Vanger is able to convince IntrepidReporter Mikael Blomkvist to go RevisitingTheColdCase by offering Blomkvist a chance to take revenge on CorruptCorporateExecutive Hans-Erik Wennerstrom, who has recently humiliated Blomkvist (by which we mean, gotten him convicted of [[MaliciousSlander libel]], as well as jail time which is AdaptedOut of TheFilmOfTheBook). Blomkvist goes for it... only to find that, since Wennerstrom worked for Vanger half a lifetime ago, all Vanger's evidence of his wrongdoing is ''decades'' past the statute of limitations. It's a reminder that, though Vanger is by no means a bad person, he's still a SnakeOilSalesman. (Also, Blomkvist still manages to get his revenge: his friend Lisbeth Salander -- you know, the girl with the dragon tattoo? -- is a PlayfulHacker.)

In the law, a statute of limitations is a statutory time limit after which a person cannot be prosecuted for a crime, or cannot be sued for committing a tort or some other violation of civil legal duties.[[note]]Yes, there is a statute of limitations for contract actions--four or six years in most [[UsefulNotes/TheCommonLaw common law]] jurisdictions--although frankly those rarely come up.[[/note]] Known as a ''(period of) prescription'' (or, sometimes, ''extinctive prescription'') in Civil Law countries. Website/TheOtherWiki has [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_limitations a lengthy article]] on them.

This is highly variable by jurisdiction and the nature of the crime/cause of action, but the basic principle is that if legal action is not initiated against someone who violated the law within a particular amount of time, the law cannot keep pursuing them. Some jurisdictions "start the clock" when the crime/tort is committed, others when a crime/tort is discovered--this one is particularly common on the civil tort side, where product-liability (like drugs later found to be unsafe) and toxic torts (companies dumping chemicals into the water/air/whatever) typically only cause damage years down the road (e.g. by causing cancer)--and there may be circumstances that extend the allowable time. The big exception is murder, which has no statute of limitations in most jurisdictions. Note however that murder's civil equivalent, the tort of wrongful death, usually does have a statute of limitations, and when it doesn't, the equitable doctrine of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laches_(equity) laches]] applies. Another major exception, per international law, is [[GenocideTropes genocide]]. Other "higher criminal order" crimes such as treason may have statutes of limitations depending on the jurisdictions. Conversely, some jurisdictions have no statute of limitations on civil suits for some seemingly-mundane tax violations like failing to file your tax returns, failing to remit income/payroll tax withheld from your employees to the taxing government, or failing to remit a sales/excise/value-added tax included in the price of goods sold to the taxing government.[[note]]In the case of returns, the theory is that it's a continuing violation as long as the return remains unfiled. In the latter two cases, the theory is that you stole from the government--which yeah, you kinda did--''and'' from the employees/customers--which yeah, you also kinda did--which makes it extra-bad. Also you stole from the government, and the government makes the rules.[[/note]]

This is highly variable by jurisdiction and the nature of the crime/cause of action, but the basic principle is that if legal action is not initiated against someone who violated the law within a particular amount of time, the law cannot keep pursuing them. Some jurisdictions "start the clock" when the crime/tort is committed, others when a crime/tort is discovered--this one is particularly common on the civil tort side, where product-liability (like drugs later found to be unsafe) and toxic torts (companies dumping chemicals into the water/air/whatever) typically only cause damage years down the road (e.g. by causing cancer)--and there may be circumstances that extend the allowable time. The big exception is murder, which has no statute of limitations in most jurisdictions. Note however that murder's civil equivalent, the tort of wrongful death, usually does have a statute of limitations, and when it doesn't, the equitable doctrine of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laches_(equity) laches]] applies. Another major exception, per international law, is [[GenocideTropes genocide]]. Other "higher criminal order" crimes such as treason may have statutes of limitations depending on the jurisdictions. Conversely, some jurisdictions have no statute of limitations on civil suits for some seemingly-mundane tax violations like failing to file your tax returns, failing to remit income/payroll tax withheld from your employees to the taxing government, or failing to remit sales or value-added tax included in the price of goods sold to the taxing government.[[note]]In the case of returns, the theory is that it's a continuing violation as long as the return remains unfiled. In the latter two cases, the theory is that you stole from the government--which yeah, you kinda did--''and'' from the employees/customers--which yeah, you also kinda did--which makes it extra-bad. Also you stole from the government, and the government makes the rules.[[/note]]

* ''Series/{{Ironside}}'': One two-part episode features a kidnapper who is blackmailing his reluctant accomplice over how the man killed someone in a bar fight years ago. The accomplice is pissed to find out that the statute of limitations for manslaughter in the state where the crime occurred ran out years ago.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In the episode "The Rip Van Winkle Caper'', criminals rob a bank, then go into suspended animation cells [[CutLexLuthorACheck that one of the criminals has invented]] to escape the statute of limitations. It works, but when they get out the gold they stole is [[WorthlessYellowRocks worthless]]. Not to mention by the time the audience learns this all of them are dead.

* In the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Who Mourns for Morn?" the statute of limitations is about to expire on a big robbery that (it turns out) Morn had been involved with. The others in the robbery come to collect their portions of the loot.

This is highly variable by jurisdiction and the nature of the crime/cause of action, but the basic principle is that if legal action is not initiated against someone who violated the law within a particular amount of time, the law cannot keep pursuing them. Some jurisdictions "start the clock" when the crime/tort is committed, others when a crime/tort is discovered--this one is particularly common on the civil tort side, where product-liability (like drugs later found to be unsafe) and toxic torts (companies dumping chemicals into the water/air/whatever) typically only cause damage years down the road (e.g. by causing cancer)--and there may be circumstances that extend the allowable time. The big exception is murder, which has no statute of limitations in most jurisdictions. Note however that murder's civil equivalent, the tort of wrongful death, usually does have a statute of limitations, and when it doesn't, the equitable doctrine of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laches_(equity) laches]] applies. Another major exception, per international law, is [[GenocideTropes genocide]]. Other "higher criminal order" crimes such as treason may have statutes of limitations depending on the jurisdictions. Conversely, some jurisdictions have no statute of limitations on civil suits for some seemingly-mundane tax violations like failing to file your tax returns, failing to remit income/payroll tax withheld from your employees to the taxing government, or failing to remit sales or value-added tax included in the price of goods sold to the taxing government.[[note]]In the case of returns, the theory is that it's a continuing violation as long as the return remains unfiled. In the latter two cases, the theory is that you stole from the government--which yeah, you kinda did--''and'' from the employees/customers, and the government makes the rules.[[/note]]

This is highly variable by jurisdiction and the nature of the crime/cause of action, but the basic principle is that if legal action is not initiated against someone who violated the law within a particular amount of time, the law cannot keep pursuing them. Some jurisdictions "start the clock" when the crime/tort is committed, others when a crime/tort is discovered--this one is particularly common on the civil tort side, where product-liability (like drugs later found to be unsafe) and toxic torts (companies dumping chemicals into the water/air/whatever) typically only cause damage years down the road (e.g. by causing cancer)--and there may be circumstances that extend the allowable time. The big exception is murder, which has no statute of limitations in most jurisdictions. Note however that murder's civil equivalent, the tort of wrongful death, usually does have a statute of limitations, and when it doesn't, the equitable doctrine of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laches_(equity) laches]] applies. Another major exception, per international law, is [[GenocideTropes genocide]]. Other "higher criminal order" crimes such as treason may have statutes of limitations depending on the jurisdictions. Conversely, some jurisdictions have no statute of limitations on civil suits for some seemingly-mundane tax violations like failing to file your tax returns, failing to remit income/payroll tax withheld from your employees to the taxing government, or failing to remit sales or value-added tax included in the price of goods sold to the taxing government.[[note]]In the case of returns, the theory is that it's a continuing violation as long as the return remains unfiled. In the latter two cases, the theory is that you stole from the government--which yeah, you kinda did--and the government makes the rules.[[/note]]

This is highly variable by jurisdiction and the nature of the crime/cause of action, but the basic principle is that if legal action is not initiated against someone who violated the law within a particular amount of time, the law cannot keep pursuing them. Some jurisdictions "start the clock" when the crime/tort is committed, others when a crime/tort is discovered--this one is particularly common on the civil tort side, where product-liability (like drugs later found to be unsafe) and toxic torts (companies dumping chemicals into the water/air/whatever) typically only cause damage years down the road (e.g. by causing cancer)--and there may be circumstances that extend the allowable time. The big exception is murder, which has no statute of limitations in most jurisdictions. Note however that murder's civil equivalent, the tort of wrongful death, usually does have a statute of limitations, and when it doesn't, the equitable doctrine of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laches_(equity) laches]] applies. Another major exception, per international law, is [[GenocideTropes genocide]]. Other "higher criminal order" crimes such as treason may have statutes of limitations depending on the jurisdictions. Conversely, some jurisdictions have no statute of limitations on civil suits for some seemingly-mundane tax violations like failing to file your tax returns, failing to remit income/payroll tax withheld from your employees to the taxing government, or failing to remit sales or value-added tax included in the price of goods sold to the taxing government.[[note]]In the case of returns, the theory is that it's a continuing violation as long as the return remains unfiled. In the latter two cases, the theory is that you stole from the government and the government makes the rules.[[/note]]

This is highly variable by jurisdiction and the nature of the crime/cause of action, but the basic principle is that if legal action is not initiated against someone who violated the law within a particular amount of time, the law cannot keep pursuing them. Some jurisdictions "start the clock" when the crime/tort is committed, others when a crime/tort is discovered--this one is particularly common on the civil tort side, where product-liability (like drugs later found to be unsafe) and toxic torts (companies dumping chemicals into the water/air/whatever) typically only cause damage years down the road (e.g. by causing cancer)--and there may be circumstances that extend the allowable time. The big exception is murder, which has no statute of limitations in most jurisdictions. Note however that its civil equivalent, the tort of wrongful death, usually does have a statute of limitations, and when it doesn't, the equitable doctrine of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laches_(equity) laches]] applies. Another major exception, per international law, is [[GenocideTropes genocide]]. Other "higher criminal order" crimes such as treason may have statutes of limitations depending on the jurisdictions.

** Similarly, [[spoiler:a desperate mother keeps her son Akio locked away in their home's basement after he accidentally killed his dad in a fight, hoping to keep him away from the police's reach until the statute is over. Akio actually ''does'' want to go to jail and atone, so by the time Conan stumbles on them both, he's this close to lose his mind out of despair ''and'' the years-long isolation. in the end, Conan helps Akio to convince his mother to let him go, and they willingly turn themselves in within the statute.]]

* A chapter of ''Manga/BlackJack'' has a robber days away from running the clock out and the police officer chasing him crash near the doctor's house. (They're kept in separate rooms, so don't realize who the other is.) By the time the robber is healed, the time limit has expired--but Blackjack's fee is exactly the amount of money he stole.

* In ''Anime/HanaNoKoLunlun'', the statute is used in the Italy arc. [[spoiler:Lunlun befriends Dario, a former PunchClockVillain from Sicily who used [[MasterofUnlocking his ability to open all kinds of doors]] in a robbery several years ago and is still sought after for it, but the statute is just ''one day away'' from finishing. Then Lunlun gets [[LockedInAFreezer trapped in an airtight vault]], and Dario is the ''only'' one able to help her get out of there alive. He hesitates at first since this means the police working in the case will catch him (and for worse, the InspectorJavert working on his case is the one leading the team), but decides to show up anyway and opens the vault, saving Lunlun's life... and as he's doing so, the statute is gone ''by five minutes''. The InspectorJavert realises this and [[GracefulLoser without any hesitation]] he lets Dario go as a free man, even making good comments on both his bravery and his lockpicking skills.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''WebComic/KevinAndKell'', Douglas Squirrel's real identity as infamous hijacker D.B. Cooper is revealed and he is arrested. However, because the statute of limitations passed for most of the charges, along with being released early for good behavior, he only was jailed for about a year.[[note]]In real life, as D. B. Cooper was indicted by a grand jury as "John Doe aka Dan Cooper" (that was the name he actually used), and the indictment has never been revoked, the statute of limitations will never pass on his crimes. The FBI was actively investigating the case as late as 2016, and they still accept leads on it.[[/note]]

* An episode of the 1950s ''{{Superman}}'' TV show had a criminal who'd locked himself in an impenetrable bunker for the duration. [[spoiler:Not so impenetrable, as Superman used a one-time IntangibleMan power to get in without breaking it, and tampered with the internal clock to make it run fast.]]

In the law, a statute of limitations is a statutory time limit after which a person cannot be prosecuted for a crime, or cannot be sued for committing a tort or some other violation of civil legal duties.[[note]]Yes, there is a statute of limitations for contract actions--four or six years in most [[UsefulNotes/TheCommonLaw common law]] jurisdictions--although frankly those rarely come up.[[/note]] Known as a ''(period of) prescription'' (or, sometimes, ''extinctive prescription'') in Civil Law countries. Wiki/TheOtherWiki has [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_limitations a lengthy article]] on them.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' parodied this. TJ and Vince became fans of a Literature/HardyBoys CaptainErsatz. They ended up solving a mystery where the villain removed the head of a statue and tried to wait until the statute of limitations expired to extort the city into paying him to return it. However, he only expects to get a few hundred dollars. The kids take it seriously, as that seems like a lot to them, but it's plain to the audience [[PyrrhicVillainy that the man wasted years of his life pursuing a pathetically small amount of money]].

* One episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'', "Limitations" dealt with this. Cragen was pressured to reopen three rape investigations after they were proven to be linked by DNA evidence, and they only had a matter of days for each one. He was less than pleased the higher-ups deliberately waited to give it to him.

* AllForNothing: ''Literature/MegLangslowMysteries: We'll Always Have Parrots'': Michael’s NervousWreck agent is a former 70s radical who changed his name and took a job he never really liked after breaking into a government office and burning draft cards. It turns out that he broke into the wrong office and burned dog licenses instead, and even if he had been burning draft cards, [[AllForNothing since no one got hurt, the statute of limitations would have expired many, many years ago]].]]

** A first-season episode had detectives desperately struggling to find a serial rapist (who hadn't been active in years) just days before the statute of limitations expired on his crimes.