Comment by lucideer
15 hours ago
> we can't keep litigating the past forever
It's worth pointing out this reasoning is usually considered self-evident. I've rarely seen anyone doing any kind of deepdive into a practical reason for this.
15 hours ago
> we can't keep litigating the past forever
It's worth pointing out this reasoning is usually considered self-evident. I've rarely seen anyone doing any kind of deepdive into a practical reason for this.
Litigating events that happened years ago is often impractical. Records are hard to find, memories are poor, witnesses are hard to find or dead, etc.
I think you argue for why don't you let the case be opened and then dismiss it in case there's not enough evidence available. On one level that's not great because it results in a lot of cases opened and then closed for lack of evidence. On another, it's not great because there's significant unfairness when some of these cases are pursuable and some are not --- drawing a line in the sand and giving a specific time frame for things to happen or not seems more fair to me, but I guess it's debatable.
Having unlimited time to litigate also suggests everyone should retain all records forever. That's a very high burden. A statute of limitations of say 3 years for contracts means I can discard old records at my own discretion without worrying that it may result in future liability.
Personally, I have some debts for services rendered where despite my desire and ability to pay, I've been unable to reach the service provider and pay them. I've also got some similar age debts where I certainly did pay them, but I've lost records of payment and it's been long enough that I might not be assured that I did pay them... sometimes things slip through the cracks. A statute of limitations means that my estate (and therefore my heirs) don't have to pay back the heirs of said service providers when they look through records and don't find evidence of payment.
There are only two broad outcomes, either things stay as they are, or much of the US is returned any remaining descendents of various treaty signatories.
The first is effectively a waste of time, the second a messy descent into hell on all sides.
> a messy descent into hell on all sides
Certainly messy & certainly hellish for some. For "all sides" though? I guess maybe if we're counting the fact it would paint a large target on the back of any beneficiaries.
In the hypothetical .. the infighting between those who are "tribe" V "not tribe" and proportioning any cash value carve outs alongside custodial issues of the land etc has the potential to be a bunfight - such issue already exist.
Moving away from native title, there are also many "peppercorn leases" bequeathed to various cities about the globe - large parks carved out from once larger farming estates, now fully urbanised and embedded within a sea of million dollar lots and apartments.
Should anyone sue over the park land no longer being a pure park (for example) or for petty reasons of "peppercorn" rent not being paid (ie violation of the terms of the gift to the city), the park would be returned to the rightful descendants .. an army of (say) fourth and fifth generation offspring all at odds for recognition and weighting and a piece of very valuable real estate.
As a parent of young children it rarely makes sense to litigate anything that happened more than 10 minutes ago, so perhaps people extrapolate from there :-) I'd enjoy that deep dive, though.
That's fair!
At least between adults though, such statutes do appear to overwhelmingly protect the holders of power/wealth/etc. from relinquishing said power/wealth/etc. It's hard to see broad societal benefits of statutes that are diametrically opposed to the interests of victims in all common cases.
I mean, there are very valid reasons behind it.
People are not expected to hold onto there documents forever, humans forget.. and change
Figuring out what happened 3 years ago is hard, figuring out what happened 30 years ago is near impossible & often wrong
This doesn't really seem like a valid reason & I suspect is misdirection.
If this were the case, litigating these instances would simply end quickly due to lack of evidence. There would be no cause for such a statute in such cases.
It is a valid reason. I'm involved in a title dispute on land in the Philippines. The most recent ruling from the Supreme Court was made in 1991 on a case originally filed in 1903.
Worse, the ruling required voluntary action from all title holders on an island, which of course was not taken.
At this point, all of the original litigants and judges are dead, and many of the descendants involved in 1991 are dead too. Every generation that passes expands the number of people who have a stake through inheritance.
In this case it's not as simple as a statute of limitations because land ultimately has to be titled, but these are some of the types of issues you run into if you don't have a time limit on things. People die. Papers get lost or destroyed. Organizations disband or get sold.
It's just better not to allow the complexity to overwhelm the legal system.
No, they would not, as one side could keep there evidence, so if after x years the opposite side has Destroit/lost/forgotten there evidence of the transaction you could "prove" something invalid
Your comment strikes me like you never had any lawsuits?
That is, btw, a thing that is already happening.
One example is people leaving the church, the state deleting the evidence after 10 years, and the church asking for it after 11