The whole of the Manx Law now in force for the limitation of actions and suits for recovery of corporeal real estate is contained in two statutes, one passed in the year 1593, and the other in 1662. [note 1] The former enacts "That if any person shall pretend "title to any farme houses or ground within the said Isle and do not exhibit his bill in writing for the same before the said Earle, his Lieutenant, or Captaine and other principal officers of the said Isle, whereby it may be entered of Record within the space of twenty-one years next after he or his ancestors have been dispossessed thereof, that then he or his successors claiming after him to be utterly excluded and barred from making any title thereunto for ever." [note 2] No provision being made by this Act for persons under disability, it was enacted by the Statute of 1662 [note 3] "That notwithstanding the limitation of terme by the said Statute (of 1593) it is provided and it is hereby provided, ordained and dec1ared, that if any person or persons that is or shall be "entitled, at the time of the 5aid right first descended, accrewed come or falne, be within the age of twenty-one years, under coverture, not of sound mind, imprisoned, or beyond the seas, or have any other lawful impediment, that then such [149] person or persons and their heirs shall and may, notwithstanding the said twenty-one years be expired and run up, bring his plaint, make his title, sue his right, and demand, as such persons might have done before the expiration of the said twenty-one years, so as nevertheless such person or persons or their heirs do within the space of two years next after their full age, discoverture, coming of sound mind, enlargement out of prison, or free of their lawful impediment, or coming into this Isle, take the benefit of, sue, and pursue the same, and at no time after the said two years be determined and expired." From these Statutes it will be perceived,— 1st That the Manx Law of Limitation does not extinguish the right, it merely bars the remedy and, Secondly,— That the disability within the Act of 1662, to prevent the time of limitation, must be a disability of the plaintiff or his ancestor at the time when the right to bring an action first accrues, and, consequently, that once the Statute begins to run, no subsequent disability will be within the provisions of the Statute of 1662, or prevent the former Statute running. The benefit of the two years after the expiration of disability, is confined to disabilities existing at and continuing from the the time of dispossession. In the construction of the Manx Statutes of Limitaticn the writer has always understood that the words "beyond seas" mean "out of the Island." In several cases arising under the Statute of Limitation of personal actions [note 4] the writer remembers. it to have been [150] decided that a person in England came within the words "beyond seas" under the provisions of that Act. At the date of the Act of 1662 neither Scotland nor Ireland were annexed to England, and the Isle of Man, although feudatory to the Crown, had not been annexed to the United Kingdom. [note 5] It was formerly the practice in the Island for claimants to present to the Courts and file "a claim," as it was ca1led, previous to commencing a suit for lands. This claim was a statement setting forth the claimant's title and complaint, and that being apprehensive that length of possession of the adverse party might operate as a bar to future proceedings, the claimant prayed that his claim might be received and entered on record according to law and ancient custom.
This claim could be handed in at any sitting of the Court in vhich the claimant intended to proceed, without any notice to the adverse party, and was ordered to be recorded as of course. The last case in which the writer recollects that a claim was entered before a suit, was that of Clucas and wife v. Dr Garrett on 27th January, 1844. It was followed up by a suit at law on the 2nd July following.
Whether the ancient practice was that such a claim filed within twenty-one years, although not followed up by an action properly commenced within that period, prevented the Statute running, [151] and if so whether the party in possession had any means to compel the claimant to proceed with his suit within a limited time, or be barred by the Statute, the writer is unable to say.
There is no Statute of Limitation in the Island respecting incorporeal rights such as rights of way, watercourses, or other easements, but the Courts of the Island have laid down as a rule that by analogy to the Statute of Limitation as to corporeal hereditaments, twenty-one years continuous user of an easement will render the right to it indefeasable. This is founded upon the presumption of a grant, and of course is subject to exceptions in the cases of disability in the same manner as if the Statute of 1662 applied to these rights. The user of an easement to confer a right, must be against a tenant in fee: user during the possession of a tenant under lease, and afterwards holding on from year to year, although known to the proprietor, will not confer a right. (Cain v. Quirk, Lib Plitor.) In Bridson v. Bacon it was decided by the Keys, that open user of a way for forty years, over lands belonging to and for several years possessed by a married woman, and afterwards held in possession by a mortgagee during the remainder of the period of user, did not confer any right of way. [note 6]
Note 1: This was so when the treatise was written, but the enactments referred to were repealed by the Statute of Limitations, 1891, sec. 4, (Revised Statutes, vol. 6, p. 240), and by such Statute other provisions were substituted. See Note at the end of this chapter.
Note 2: Revised Statutes, vol. I, p. 62.
Note 3: Revised Statutes, vol. I, p. 114.
Note 4: An Act for certain Actions and Claims for Debt, Trespass and other things, for avoiding of Suits in Law, (Revised Statutes, vol. I, p. 233). The expression "beyond the seas" has always been iheld to include all places beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the Island. In the Ecclesiastical Court the technical expression used to designate persons not resident within the Island, was "Transmarines."
Note 5: It has never been united or annexed to England or the United Kingdom. It is an ancient Kingdom, but after A.D. 1399 and until A.D. 1765 it was feudatory to the Crown of England. In A.D. 1765 the rule of the feudatory sovereigns ceased, and the direct rule of the Sovereigns of England commenced:— The Sovereign rights of the feudatory Sovereign merged in those of the Sovereign paramount, but otherwise no change took place in the Government of the Island as a separate kingdom.
Note 6: A complete change in the law as to the limitation of actions was effected by the Statute of Limitations, 1891, (Revised Statutes, vol. 6, p. 240) The times of limitation as regards real estate prescribed by the Act may be summarised as follows:—