​Limitation Periods (ninth edition)

Professor Andrew McGee’s Limitation Periods has long been an essential title within Sweet and Maxwell’s ‘litigation library’. Its utility to the practitioner, providing reliable guidance while navigating the notoriously complex area of limitation periods, cannot be overstated.

Simply put, this text is ‘designed to help bring an action in good time and remedy delays which may lead to striking out’. Not only does this title deliver in this regard, but it also provides significant and invaluable coverage of procedural matters, such as pleadings and burden of proof, as well as detailed analysis of judgments in new case law, explaining the implications for practitioners in their niche areas.

Despite there being ‘over 150 statutory time limits’ that apply to different causes of action, this text provides a complete resource for practitioners across all practice areas, encompassing everything one would need to know, from preliminary issues to proceedings. For situations where a plaintiff’s conventional remedy is statute barred, the alternative options available on expiry of limitation and the exceptions that may apply are set out for the practitioner to consider. Professor McGee is well-placed to provide this guidance, having been routinely instructed to deal with limitation arguments in all areas of the law during his lengthy career at the bar.

Professor McGee’s expertise as a limitation specialist will save the practitioner significant time, particularly when case-planning and providing initial advice, as well as throughout the duration of the claim. The text is laid out so that the practitioner can quickly identify the relevant section and Professor McGee cross-references other sections of the text which may be worth consulting in a given scenario.  

At just 573 pages, Professor McGee has done a commendable job of condensing the entire subject area into a text which is both extremely manageable and easily the most efficient way of verifying the legal position and any available arguments. There is no reason why every legal practice should not have a copy of this text.  

Roisin O’Dubhlaoidh is a solicitor at RWK Goodman in Bath