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Debt-When Outlawed by Limitation
By debt is meant any contract whereby a certain sum of money becomes due to any person, and is not paid, but remains in action. The parties to this action are termed debtor and creditor; the debtor's duty being to tender payment at the proper time, and the creditor's to receive it. debt:-- The following are the rules regulating the limitation of action in the matter of All actions upon judgments and decrees of a court, or a contract under seal, or for the recovery of real estate, must be begun within a period of twenty years from the date when the course of action accrued.
Where contracts are unsealed, all actions, whether express or implied, are outlawed in six years. Claims for damages to property are outlawed in six years also. Claims for damages for injury to person or rights of others are outlawed in six years, excepting in case of personal injuries that are caused by negligence, which are outlawed in three years.
Actions for libel, slander, assault, battery, false imprisonment, and forfeitures or penalties to the people of the State, are outlawed in two years. All claims for the specific recovery of personal property, and on judgements issued by Courts not of record, are outlawed, in six years. Where the enforcement of a bill, note, or other evidence of debt that may be issued by a moneyed corporation is involved, or the enforcement of the payment of the same issued or put into circulation as money, there is no limitation of time to sue. A contract, or other liability cannot be taken out of the statute of outlawry, by an acknowledgment or new promise, unless it be in writing. But a payment on account of principal or interest takes the case out of the statute, whether it be in writing or not.
Should there be a partial payment made by a person indebted on more than one account, if there has been no actual appropriation by the debtor at or before the time of the payment, the creditor may apply the payment in any way he pleases. In the matter of payments, the interest due must first be satisfied, and the balance of the payment is to be applied to diminish the principle; but if the payment falls short of the interest due, the rule laid down is that the balance of the interest is not to be added to the principle but to be set apart, and liquidated, by the next payment, if sufficient. A creditor is bound to receive payment, if offered at the stipulated time; and if he refuses acceptance, he cannot afterward begin an action for the amount unless he can prove a subsequent demand or refusal. If a tender is to be kept good, the debtor should have the money at all times ready to pay it to the creditor, should he conclude to receive it, and demand payment.