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Free keywords:
mandatory nature of limitation periods; extend or curtail the length of limitation periods; giving up the interest of limitation periods in advance; free disposal of the interest of limitation periods
Abstract:
There are four issues when the law of limitation periods is mandatory: Firstly, the public interests, which the law of limitation periods can help to protect, cannot be the basis of the mandatory nature of the law of limitation periods, because these interests are relatively weaker than other interests protected by law. Secondly, the mandatory nature of the law of limitation periods shapes it as an unchangeable norm group, which is in contradiction with some specific rules of the law of limitation periods. Thirdly, according to legal practices, the contractual agreement about limitation periods cannot easily jeopardize the public interests protected by the law of limitation periods. On the contrary, the mandatory nature of limitation periods will not only frustrate the reasonable expectations of the parties, but also induce bad faith behaviors, and trigger the trust crisis of the society. Lastly, the legislations in comparative law cannot be used as evidence for Section 2 of “Provisions of the Law of Limitation Periods”. Instead, they reveal the crisis of the mandatory nature of the law of limitation periods. In the context that the law of limitation periods should be dispositive, some boundaries can be set to meet special needs of the parties under special circumstances.
