Protecting the Wrongdoer

Abstract

This article examines the appropriateness of applying civil limitation laws to adult civil law claims in historical childhood abuse cases, focusing on issues of legal policy attending the use of such laws highlighted in the Australian case of Brisbane South Regional Health Authority v. Taylor. It is argued that civil limitation laws are inappropriate when applied to such cases and that ultimately such laws often give primacy to the interests of alleged wrongdoers and to the need to protect alleged wrongdoers from civil law redress in a context in which the ordinary justification for such laws is weak when weighed against the enormity of the injury caused by the abuses complained of and the acute difficulties victims often face in pursuing timely enforcement action in respect of the childhood rights allegedly violated. The article also contains a review of recent developments in the law in several jurisdictions.