Article 101: (Arts. 117 and 122 of the Act of 1908):
The period of limitation for a suit upon a judgment, including a foreign judgment, or a recognizance is three years and the time of limitation starts to run from the date of the judgment or recognizance.
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ADVERTISEMENTS:
Judgment is the sentence of the law, or decision pronounced by the Court upon the matter contained in the record.
A judgment is the determination or sentence of law pronounced by a competent Judge or Court; as the result of an action or proceeding instituted in or before such Court or Judge, affirming that upon the matters ^ submitted for its decision, a legal duty or liability does or does not exist.
‘Judgment’ means the statement given by the Judge of the grounds of a decree or order.
Judgment means a decision which affects the merits of the question between the parties by determining some rights or liability and such judgment may be either preliminary or final.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
When the judgment creates new obligation without providing for its execution a separate suit may lie on such judgment and the Art. 101 is attracted. A decree which merely declares the right of parties is not capable of execution. So a suit will be on such judgment and the Art. 101 is attracted.
In Annoda v. Nobo, (33 Cal. 560), it has been held that an insolvency jurisdiction is a judgment of the High Court and a suit based upon such order is maintainable. Such a suit is governed by the Art. 101.
‘Foreign judgments’ are judgments rendered by the Courts of a country or State politically and judicially distinct from that which the judgment or its effect is brought in question; a judgment of a foreign tribunal.
According to the definition of foreign judgment given by the Civil Procedure Code, a ‘foreign judgment’ is a judgment of a foreign Court. So the foreign judgment means adjudication by the foreign Court, a foreign Judge.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The foreign judgment may be enforced in India by suit and when a suit is filed to enforce a foreign judgment, Art. 101 is attracted to such a suit.
In R. Ramachandraiah v. R. Gugadeshwariah, [(1967) 2 Andh.W.R. 335], it has been held that if a suit on a foreign judgment is filed within the time prescribed by the Art. 101 it is in time in spite of the fact that under the law of foreign State, where the decree was obtained, execution of the decree in that State is barred by time. The right to sue on a foreign judgment is barred after three years from the date of the judgment, and the time spent in executing the decree is the foreign country cannot be excluded.
Recognizance is an obligation of record, entered into before a Court or officer duly authorised for that purpose, with condition to do some act required by law.
As per Section 445 of the Criminal Procedure Code, recognizance is “A bond or obligation entered into and recorded before a Court or Magistrate by which a person engages himself to perform some act or observe some condition (as to appear when called upon); also a sum of money pledged as security for such performance.
Recognizance bonds are usually taken from complainants, witnesses, accused persons and their sureties under the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Art. 101 prescribes ‘the date of judgment or recognizance’ as the case may be, as the starting point of limitation and the limitation period is three years.
Limitation for enforcing a foreign judgment is also the date of judgment. It would be date of the appellate judgment if there has been an appeal and in that case the date of appellate judgment shall be the date of judgment.
In the case of recognizance the date of recognizance is the date of forfeiture of bond because no cause of action arises until and unless there j is forfeiture of the bond.