BOOK EIGHT

PRESCRIPTION
TITLE ONE
RULES GOVERNING PRESCRIPTION
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PROVISIONS

2875. Prescription is a means of acquiring or of being released by the

lapse of time and according to the conditions determined by law:
prescription is called acquisitive in the first case and extinctive in the
second.
1991, c. 64, a. 2875; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2876. That which is not an object of commerce, is non-transferable or

is inappropriable, by reason of its nature or the purpose to which it has
been appropriated, cannot be prescribed.
1991, c. 64, a. 2876; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2877. Prescription takes effect in favour of or against everyone,

including the State, subject to express provision of law.
1991, c. 64, a. 2877; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2878. The court may not, of its own motion, raise the plea of
prescription.

However, it shall, of its own motion, declare a remedy forfeit where so

provided by law. Such forfeiture is never presumed; it results only where
expressly provided for in a text.
1991, c. 64, a. 2878; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2879. The period of time required for prescription is reckoned by full

days. The day on which prescription begins to run is not counted in
computing such period.

Prescription is acquired only when the last day of the period has elapsed.
Where the last day is a Saturday or a non-juridical day, prescription is
acquired only on the following juridical day.
1991, c. 64, a. 2879.

2880. Dispossession determines the beginning of the period of

acquisitive prescription.

The day on which the right of action arises determines the beginning of
the period of extinctive prescription.
1991, c. 64, a. 2880; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2881. Prescription may be pleaded at any stage of judicial

proceedings, even in appeal, unless the party who has not pleaded
prescription has, in light of the circumstances, demonstrated his intention
of renouncing it.
1991, c. 64, a. 2881.

2882. A ground of defence that may be raised to defeat an action may

still be invoked, even if the time for using it by way of a direct action has
expired, provided such ground could have constituted a valid defence to
an action at the time when it could have served as the basis of a direct
action.
Acceptance of such a ground does not revive a direct action that is
prescribed.
1991, c. 64, a. 2882; I.N. 2014-05-01.
CHAPTER II
RENUNCIATION OF PRESCRIPTION

2883. Prescription may not be renounced in advance, but prescription

acquired or the benefit of the time elapsed in the case of prescription that
has begun to run may be renounced.
1991, c. 64, a. 2883; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2884. No prescriptive period other than that provided by law may be

agreed upon.

1991, c. 64, a. 2884.

2885. Renunciation of prescription is either express or tacit; tacit

renunciation results from an act which implies the abandonment of the

acquired right.

However, renunciation of acquired prescription with respect to immovable

real rights shall be published at the registry office.
1991, c. 64, a. 2885; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2886. A person who may not alienate may not renounce acquired
prescription.

1991, c. 64, a. 2886; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2887. Any person who has an interest in the acquisition of prescription

may plead it, even if the debtor or the possessor renounces it.
1991, c. 64, a. 2887.

2888. Following renunciation, prescription begins to run again for the

same period.

1991, c. 64, a. 2888.

CHAPTER III
INTERRUPTION OF PRESCRIPTION

2889. Prescription may be interrupted naturally or civilly.

1991, c. 64, a. 2889.

2890. Acquisitive prescription is interrupted naturally where the

possessor is deprived of the enjoyment of the property for more than one
year.
1991, c. 64, a. 2890.

2891. Extinctive prescription is interrupted naturally where the holder

of a right, having failed to avail himself of it, exercises that right.
1991, c. 64, a. 2891.

2892. The filing of a judicial demand before the expiry of the

prescriptive period constitutes a civil interruption, provided the demand is

served on the person to be prevented from prescribing not later than 60
days following the expiry of the prescriptive period.

Cross demands, interventions, seizures and oppositions are considered to

be judicial demands. The notice expressing the intention by one party to
submit a dispute to arbitration is also considered to be a judicial demand,
provided it describes the object of the dispute to be submitted and is
served in accordance with the rules and time limits applicable to judicial
demands.
1991, c. 64, a. 2892.

2893. Any demand by a creditor to share in a distribution with other

creditors also interrupts prescription.

1991, c. 64, a. 2893; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2894. Interruption does not occur if the demand is dismissed, or if the

proceedings are discontinued or perempted.
1991, c. 64, a. 2894; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2895. Where the demand of a party is dismissed without a decision

having been made on the merits of the matter and where, on the date of
the judgment, the prescriptive period has expired or will expire in less
than three months, the demanding party has an additional period of three
months from service of the judgment in which to assert his right.
The same applies to arbitration; the three-month period then runs from
the time the award is made, from the end of the arbitrators' mandate, or
from the service of the judgment annulling the award.
1991, c. 64, a. 2895; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2896. An interruption resulting from a judicial demand continues until

the judgment has acquired the authority of a final judgment (res judicata)
or, as the case may be, until a transaction has intervened between the
parties.
The interruption has effect with regard to all the parties with respect to
any right arising from the same source.
1991, c. 64, a. 2896; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2897. An interruption which results from the bringing of a class action

benefits all the members of the group who have not requested their
exclusion from the group.

1991, c. 64, a. 2897.

2898. Acknowledgement of a right, as well as renunciation of the

benefit of a period of the time elapsed, interrupts prescription.
1991, c. 64, a. 2898; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2899. A judicial demand or any other act of interruption against the

principal debtor or against a surety interrupts prescription with regard to

both.
1991, c. 64, a. 2899.

2900. Interruption with regard to one of the creditors or debtors of a

solidary or indivisible obligation has effect with regard to the others.
1991, c. 64, a. 2900.

2901. Interruption with regard to one of the joint creditors or debtors

of a divisible obligation has no effect with regard to the others.
1991, c. 64, a. 2901.

2902. Interruption with regard to one of the coheirs of a solidary

creditor or debtor of a divisible obligation has effect, with regard to the

other solidary creditors or debtors, only as regards the portion of that heir.
1991, c. 64, a. 2902.

2903. After its interruption, prescription begins to run again for the
same period.

1991, c. 64, a. 2903; I.N. 2014-05-01.

CHAPTER IV
SUSPENSION OF PRESCRIPTION

2904. Prescription does not run against persons if it is impossible in

fact for them to act by themselves or to be represented by others.
1991, c. 64, a. 2904.

2905. Prescription does not run against a child yet unborn.

Nor does it run against a minor or a person of full age under curatorship
or tutorship with respect to remedies they may have against their
representative or against the person entrusted with their custody, or with
respect to remedies they may have against any person for bodily injury
resulting from an act which could constitute a criminal offence.
1991, c. 64, a. 2905; 2013, c. 8, s. 6.

2906. Married or civil union spouses do not prescribe against each

other during cohabitation.

1991, c. 64, a. 2906; 2002, c. 6, s. 59.

2907. Prescription does not run against an heir with respect to his
claims against the succession.
1991, c. 64, a. 2907.

2908. A motion for leave to bring a class action suspends prescription

in favour of all the members of the group for whose benefit it is made or,
as the case may be, in favour of the group described in the judgment
granting the motion.

The suspension lasts until the motion is dismissed or annulled or until the
judgment granting the motion is set aside; however, a member requesting
to be excluded from the action or who is excluded therefrom by the
description of the group made by the judgment on the motion, an
interlocutory judgment or the judgment on the action ceases to benefit
from the suspension of prescription.
In the case of a judgment, however, prescription runs again only when the
judgment is no longer susceptible of appeal.
1991, c. 64, a. 2908.

2909. Suspension of prescription of solidary claims and indivisible

claims produces its effects with respect to creditors and debtors and their
heirs in accordance with the rules applicable to interruption of prescription
of such claims.
1991, c. 64, a. 2909; I.N. 2014-05-01.
TITLE TWO
ACQUISITIVE PRESCRIPTION

CHAPTER I
CONDITIONS OF ACQUISITIVE PRESCRIPTION

2910. Acquisitive prescription is a means of acquiring a right of

ownership, or one of its dismemberments, through the effect of
possession.
1991, c. 64, a. 2910.

2911. Acquisitive prescription requires possession conforming to the

conditions set out in the Book on Property.
1991, c. 64, a. 2911; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2912. A successor by particular title may join to his possession that of

his predecessors in order to complete prescription.

A successor by universal title or by general title continues the possession

of his predecessor.
1991, c. 64, a. 2912.

2913. Detention cannot serve as the basis for prescription, even if it

extends beyond the term agreed upon.

1991, c. 64, a. 2913; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2914. A precarious title may be interverted by a title originating from

a third person or by an act performed by the holder which is incompatible

with precarious holding.
Interversion renders the possession effective for prescription, from the
time the owner learns of the new title or of the act of the holder.
1991, c. 64, a. 2914; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2915. Third persons may prescribe against the owner of property

during its dismemberment or when it is held precariously.
1991, c. 64, a. 2915.

2916. The institute and his successors by universal title or by general

title do not prescribe against the substitute before the opening of the
substitution.
1991, c. 64, a. 2916.
CHAPTER II
PERIODS OF ACQUISITIVE PRESCRIPTION

2917. The period for acquisitive prescription is 10 years, except as

otherwise determined by law.

1991, c. 64, a. 2917; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2918. A person who has for 10 years possessed an immovable as its

owner may acquire the ownership of it only upon a judicial demand.
1991, c. 64, a. 2918; 2000, c. 42, s. 10.

2919. The possessor in good faith of movable property acquires the

ownership of it by three years running from the dispossession of the
owner.

Until the expiry of that period, the owner may revendicate the movable
property, unless it has been acquired under judicial authority.
1991, c. 64, a. 2919.

2920. To prescribe, a subsequent acquirer need have been in good

faith only at the time of the acquisition, even where his effective
possession began only after that time.

The same applies where there is joinder of possession, with respect to

each previous acquirer.
1991, c. 64, a. 2920.
TITLE THREE
EXTINCTIVE PRESCRIPTION

2921. Extinctive prescription is a means of extinguishing a right owing

to its non-use or of pleading a peremptory exception to an action.
1991, c. 64, a. 2921; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2922. The period for extinctive prescription is 10 years, except as

otherwise determined by law.

1991, c. 64, a. 2922; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2923. Actions to enforce immovable real rights are prescribed by 10

years.

However, an action to retain or obtain possession of an immovable may be

brought only within one year of the disturbance or dispossession.
1991, c. 64, a. 2923; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2924. A right resulting from a judgment is prescribed by 10 years if it

is not exercised.

1991, c. 64, a. 2924.

2925. An action to enforce a personal right or movable real right is

prescribed by three years, if the prescriptive period is not otherwise
determined.
1991, c. 64, a. 2925; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2926. Where the right of action arises from moral, bodily or material

injury appearing progressively or tardily, the period runs from the day the
injury appears for the first time.
1991, c. 64, a. 2926; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2926.1. An action in damages for bodily injury resulting from an act

which could constitute a criminal offence is prescribed by 10 years from

the date the victim becomes aware that the injury suffered is attributable
to that act. However, the prescriptive period is 30 years if the injury
results from a sexual aggression, violent behaviour suffered during
childhood, or the violent behaviour of a spouse or former spouse.
If the victim or the author of the act dies, the prescriptive period, if not
already expired, is reduced to three years and runs from the date of
death.
2013, c. 8, s. 7.

2927. The prescriptive period for an action in nullity of contract runs

from the day the person invoking the cause of nullity becomes aware of
such cause or, in the case of violence or fear, from the day it ceases.
1991, c. 64, a. 2927; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2928. An application by a surviving spouse to have the compensatory

allowance determined is prescribed by one year from the death of his
spouse.
1991, c. 64, a. 2928; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2929. An action for defamation is prescribed by one year from the day
on which the defamed person learned of the defamation.
1991, c. 64, a. 2929.

2930. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, where an action

is based on the obligation to make reparation for bodily injury caused to

another, the requirement that notice be given prior to bringing the action
or that the action be instituted within a period of less than 3 years, 10
years or 30 years, as the case may be, cannot affect a prescriptive period
provided for in this Book.
1991, c. 64, a. 2930; 2013, c. 8, s. 8.

2931. In the case of a contract of successive performance, prescription

runs with respect to payments due, even though the parties continue to
perform one or another of their obligations under the contract.
1991, c. 64, a. 2931; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2932. The prescriptive period for an action to reduce an obligation that

is performed successively runs from the day the obligation becomes due,
whether the obligation arises from a contract, the law or a judgment.
1991, c. 64, a. 2932; I.N. 2014-05-01.

2933. No holder may be released by prescription from the prestation

attached to his detention; however, its extent may be prescribed, as may

the arrears.
1991, c. 64, a. 2933; I.N. 2014-05-01.