Whether, in light of the First Minister’s apology on 1 December 2004 to those who, as children, suffered abuse and neglect in residential c…

Prior to 1984 claimsfor damages for personal injury were subject to both the three year limitation periodand the 20 year long negative prescription. The effect of prescription is to extinguishtotally a potential claim so that it no longer exists, whereas limitation imposesa time limit of three years for bringing an action for compensation for personalinjury. However, the court has discretion to allow an action to proceed even thoughit is raised over three years after the incident giving rise to the claim whereit thinks it would be equitable to do so. The Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1984 removed personal injury actions from the scope oflong negative prescription. When the Act came into force on 26 September 1984, allclaims where the cause of action arose prior 26 September 1964 ceased to exist.We have asked the Scottish Law Commission (SLC) to consider certain aspects of thelaw in relation to both limitation and prescription.The SLC Discussion Paper (Scot Law Com No.132) is available on their website atwww.scotlawcom.gov.uk. The Executivewill carefully consider the SLC Report when it is received before taking decisionson future action.