When is a civil claim no longer heard because of the passage of time?

The Law Office of Ali Barakat in Baghdad sets out the Iraqi rule on the passage of time that bars hearing a civil claim, under Civil Code No. 40 of 1951, published in the Official Gazette, issue 3015 of 8/9/1951. Everyday language sometimes speaks of a claim “lapsing” or of “prescription.” The Iraqi text is more precise: the claim is not heard against a person who denies it after it has been left, without a legally recognised excuse, for the period the statute fixes, and the right itself does not fall with the passage of time, under article 440. The page marks that limit. The period is counted from the text and from the papers of the file.

The right remains; the claim may not be heard

Article 429 states the general rule: a claim arising from an obligation, whatever its cause, is not heard against a person who denies it after it has been left, without a legally recognised excuse, for fifteen years, subject to special provisions. Article 440 explains the effect: the right does not fall with the passage of time. If the defendant admits the right before the court, the admission is taken, unless a provision provides otherwise. If the claim on the right is not heard because of the passage of time, a claim for interest and other accessories is not heard either, even if the period fixed for those accessories has not yet run, under article 441.

The court may not, of its own motion, refuse to hear the claim because of the passage of time. The plea must be raised by the debtor, or by the debtor’s creditors, or by any other person with an interest in the plea, even if the debtor has not raised it, under article 442. The plea may be raised at any stage of the case, including before the Court of Appeal, unless the circumstances show that the defendant has waived it.

A waiver of the plea is not allowed before the right to raise it has arisen, and an agreement that the claim may not be heard after a period different from the statutory period is not allowed, under article 443. A person with power to dispose of his or her rights may, even by implication, waive the plea once the right to it has arisen, but that waiver does not bind creditors if it was made to their prejudice.

This path is not the same as the time-limits for challenging judgments. Articles 171 and following of Civil Procedure Law No. 83 of 1969 treat those periods as mandatory: the right to challenge falls if they are exceeded, and the court of its own motion dismisses a challenge filed after the legal period. Those periods are set out on the page Time-limits for appeals, warnings and the passage of time.

Special periods, suspension and interruption

Article 430 provides that a claim for every periodic recurring right — such as rent, interest, salaries and settled income — is not heard against the debtor after it has been left, without a legally recognised excuse, for five years. As for fruits due from a possessor in bad faith, and fruits that the administrator of a waqf must pay to the beneficiaries, a claim for those sums is not heard against a person who denies them after they have been left, without a legally recognised excuse, for fifteen years.

Article 431 provides that a claim is not heard against a person who denies it after it has been left, without a legally recognised excuse, for one year, in the case of the rights of physicians, pharmacists, advocates, professors, teachers, engineers, experts, bankruptcy trustees and brokers, and generally anyone practising a liberal profession, provided the rights are due to them as remuneration for work performed and expenses incurred; in the case of the rights of merchants and artisans in respect of goods supplied to persons who do not trade in those goods, and the rights of hotel and restaurant keepers for lodging, food and sums spent for their customers; and in the case of the rights of workers, servants and hired hands for daily or other wages and for the price of supplies they have made. The claim is not heard even if the creditors have continued the services, work or supplies. A person who relies on the one-year bar must take an oath, which the court administers of its own motion, that his or her liability is not occupied by the debt; the oath is administered to the debtor’s heirs, or to their guardians if they are under interdiction, that they do not know of the debt. If, however, an instrument has been drawn up in respect of one of these rights, the right is time-barred only after fifteen years, under paragraph 4 of the same article.

The period that bars hearing the claim is calculated according to the Gregorian calendar and in days, not hours, under article 433. It begins on the day the obligation becomes due: in a claim for a deferred debt, from the date the term falls; in a debt subject to a condition, from the date the condition is fulfilled; and in a claim for warranty of title, from the date title is established, under article 434. If the time for performance depends on the creditor’s will, time starts to run from the moment the creditor is able to declare that will.

The period is suspended by a legally recognised excuse: for example where the claimant is a minor or under interdiction and has no guardian, or is absent in a remote foreign country, or the claim is between spouses or between ascendants and descendants, or another obstacle makes it impossible for the claimant to demand the right. Time that passes while the excuse continues is not counted, under article 435. If a predecessor left the claim for a period and the successor left it for a further period, and the two periods together reach the prescribed limit, the claim is not heard, under article 432. If some heirs left a claim for a debt owed to their decedent, without excuse, for the prescribed period, and other heirs had a legally recognised excuse, the claim of the latter is heard to the extent of their share of the debt, under article 436.

The period is interrupted by a judicial demand, even if the claim was brought, by a pardonable mistake, before a court other than the court that would hear the dispute, under article 437. It is also interrupted if the debtor acknowledges the creditor’s right, expressly or by implication, unless a provision provides otherwise, under article 438. After interruption, a new period of the same length begins. If, however, judgment is given for the debt and that judgment becomes final, or if the prescribed period was one year and it was interrupted by the debtor’s acknowledgement, the new period is fifteen years, under article 439.

Legal basis and sources

1. Civil Code No. 40 of 1951 (Official Gazette No. 3015 of 8/9/1951)
2. Civil Procedure Law No. 83 of 1969 (Official Gazette No. 1766 of 10/11/1969)

Frequently asked questions

Related topics and articles

• 01Time-limits for appeals, warnings and the passage of time in IraqPeriods for objection, appeal, retrial, cassation and correction under Civil Procedure Law 83/1969, unlike a warning or a Civil Code time bar.
• 02How is a civil right proved, and what force do electronic messages have?Proving a civil right under Evidence Law 107/1979, and the legal force of signed letters and electronic documents under Electronic Signature Law 78/2012.
• 03Where to file a claim in Baghdad: the Rusafa courts or the Karkh courts?How to choose where to bring a civil claim in Baghdad, between courts attached to the Rusafa appeal presidency and those attached to the Karkh appeal presidency, under the territorial-jurisdiction rules of the Civil Procedure Law and the decree that split the Baghdad appeal region.

Always check the text in force and its amendments in the official source.

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