Befristung, Verjährung, Verschweigung und Verwirkung

One of the basic principles of civil law is that the rights of the individual can change due to the passage of time. In Germany, these changes are basically due to the limitation of the right of action in respect to a claim, the time limitation for rights, a period of prescription and the judicial institution of forfeiture. In British law, in particular procedural law, the term »limitation« is also of some significance. Since British law follows the substantive qualification of limitation and thus the connection to lex causae in its conflict of laws provisions, continental law is of considerable importance in Great Britain as well. Andreas Piekenbrock shows how the current limitation laws in Germany and in other countries are rooted in diverse schools of thought. In doing so, he provides the reader with an important insight into the concept of prescriptio in Roman law.