Hong Kong Ordinances

LIMITATION ORDINANCE - SECT 26

Postponement of limitation period in case of fraud, concealment or mistake

Fraud, concealment and mistake

(1) Subject to subsection (4), where in the case of any action for which a
period of limitation is prescribed by this Ordinance, either-

   (a)  the action is based upon the fraud of the defendant;

   (b)  any fact relevant to the plaintiff's right of action has been
        deliberately concealed from him by the defendant; or

   (c)  the action is for relief from the consequences of a mistake, the
        period of limitation shall not begin to run until the plaintiff has
        discovered the fraud, concealment or mistake (as the case may be) or
        could with reasonable diligence have discovered it.

(2) References in subsection (1) to the defendant include references to the
defendant's agent and to any person through whom the defendant claims and his
agent.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), deliberate commission of a breach of
duty in circumstances in which it is unlikely to be discovered for some time
amounts to deliberate concealment of the facts involved in that breach of
duty.

(4) Nothing in this section shall enable any action-

   (a)  to recover, or recover the value of, any property; or

   (b)  to enforce any charge against, or set aside any transaction affecting,
        and property, to be brought against the purchaser of the property or
        any person claiming through him in any case where the property has
        been purchased for valuable consideration by an innocent third party
        since the fraud or concealment or

(as the case may be) the transaction in which the mistake was made took place.

(5) A purchaser is an innocent third party for the purposes of this section-

   (a)  in the case of fraud or concealment of any fact relevant to the
        plaintiff's right of action, if he was not a party to the fraud or (as
        the case may be) to the concealment of that fact and did not at the
        time of the purchase know or have reason to believe that the fraud or
        concealment had taken place; and

   (b)  in the case of mistake, if he did not at the time of the purchase know
        or have reason to believe that the mistake had been made.

(6) Sections 31 and 32 shall not apply to any action to which subsection
(1)(b) applies (and accordingly the period of limitation referred to in that
subsection, in any case to which either of those sections would otherwise
apply, is the period applicable under section  4 (1)). (Replaced 31 of 1991 s.
12) [cf. 1980 c. 58 s. 32 U.K.]