New South Wales Consolidated Acts

LIMITATION ACT 1969 - SECT 11

11 Definitions

(1) In this Act, unless the context or subject matter otherwise indicates or requires--

"Action" includes any proceeding in a court.

"Beneficiary" , when used in relation to an order under section 60D or 60H or an application for such an order, means a person for whose benefit an action might be, or might have been, brought under the Compensation to Relatives Act 1897 .

"Breach of duty" , when used in relation to a cause of action for damages for personal injury, extends to the breach of any duty (whether arising by statute, contract or otherwise) and includes trespass to the person.

"Crown" includes not only the Crown in right of New South Wales but also, so far as the legislative power of Parliament permits, the Crown in all its other capacities.

"Deed" includes an instrument having the effect of a deed under the law of New South Wales or, in the case of an instrument executed pursuant to the law of--

(a) the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,

(b) another State of the Commonwealth,

(c) the Commonwealth,

(d) a Territory of the Commonwealth, or

(e) New Zealand,

having the effect of a deed under the law pursuant to which it is executed.

"Income" includes interest on a judgment and other interest, and includes rent annuities and dividends, but does not include arrears of interest secured by a mortgage and lawfully treated as principal.

"Judgment" includes not only a judgment of a court of New South Wales but also a judgment of a court of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a court of another State of the Commonwealth, a court of the Commonwealth, a court of a Territory of the Commonwealth, or a court of any other place.

"Land" includes--

(a) corporeal hereditaments and rentcharges and any estate or interest therein whether freehold or leasehold and whether at law or in equity, and

(b) the interest pending sale of land (including incorporeal hereditaments) held on trust for sale of a person having an interest in the proceeds of sale,

but does not include easements or profits à prendre nor, subject to paragraphs (a) and (b) of this definition, other incorporeal hereditaments.

"Landlord" means a person entitled to land subject to a lease.

"Mortgage" does not include a possessory lien on goods nor any binding effect on property arising under a writ of execution against the property but otherwise includes a charge or lien on any property for securing money or money's worth and also includes, in relation to land under the provisions of the Real Property Act 1900 , a charge within the meaning of that Act.

"Mortgagee" includes a person claiming a mortgage through an original mortgagee.

"Mortgagor" includes a person claiming property subject to a mortgage through an original mortgagor.

"Personal injury" includes any disease and any impairment of the physical or mental condition of a person.

"Personal representative" means an executor to whom probate has been granted, including an executor by right of representation, or an administrator within the meaning of the Probate and Administration Act 1898 , and includes the NSW Trustee and Guardian acting under section 25 of the NSW Trustee and Guardian Act 2009 .

"Plaintiff" means a person bringing an action.

"Principal money" , in relation to a mortgage, means all money secured by the mortgage, including arrears of interest lawfully treated as principal, but does not include other interest.

"Rent" includes a rent payable under a lease and any other rent service and a rentcharge.

"Rentcharge" means an annuity or other periodical sum of money, being an annuity or sum charged on or payable out of land, but does not include a rent payable under a lease nor any other rent service nor interest under a mortgage.

"Successor" , in relation to a person liable on a cause of action, means a person on whom the liability of the firstmentioned person devolves, whether as personal representative or otherwise on death, or on bankruptcy, disposition of property, or determination of a limited estate or interest, or otherwise.

"Trust" includes express implied and constructive trusts, whether or not the trustee has a beneficial interest in the trust property, and whether or not the trust arises only by reason of a transaction impeached, and includes the duties incident to the office of personal representative but does not include the duties incident to the estate or interests of a mortgagee in mortgaged property.

"Trustee" has a meaning corresponding to the meaning of "trust".

(2) For the purposes of this Act--

(a) a person claims through another person in respect of any property or right if the person is entitled to the property or right by through under or by the act of that other person, but a person entitled to property or a right by virtue of an appointment under a special power of appointment does not, by reason of the appointment, claim the property or right through the appointor,

(b) a reference to a cause of action to recover land includes a reference to a right to enter into possession of the land,

(c) a thing done to or by or suffered by an agent is done to or by or suffered by his or her principal, and

(d) a cause of action to which any of the provisions of Division 4 of Part 2 applies is not a cause of action to recover land or a cause of action to enforce an equitable estate or interest in land.

(3) For the purposes of this Act a person is under a disability--

(a) while the person is under the age of eighteen years, or

(b) while the person is, for a continuous period of twenty-eight days or upwards, incapable of, or substantially impeded in, the management of his or her affairs in relation to the cause of action in respect of the limitation period for which the question arises, by reason of--

(i) any disease or any impairment of his or her physical or mental condition,

(ii) restraint of his or her person, lawful or unlawful, including detention or custody under the Mental Health Act 1958 ,

(iii) war or warlike operations, or

(iv) circumstances arising out of war or warlike operations.

(4) In this Act, in respect of land which is a rentcharge--

(a) a reference to the possession of land is a reference to the receipt of the rent, and

(b) a reference to the date of dispossession or discontinuance of possession of land is a reference to the date when rent first becomes overdue.

(5) The provisions of this Act as to the date of accrual of a cause of action have effect for the purposes of this Act but not for any other purpose.

(6) In this Act, a reference to an Act includes amendments of that Act by subsequent Acts.