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dife, or to aftions of accounts open and current only; the 
words of the ftatute being, “All actions of trefpafs, See. 
all actions of account and upon the cafe, other than fuch 
actions as concern the trade of merchants;” fo that by the 
words, other than fuch actions, not being faid actions of ac¬ 
count, it has been infilled that all aftions concerning 
merchants are excepted. But it is now fettled, that ac¬ 
counts open and current only are within the ltatute; that 
therefore, if an account be dated and fettled between mer¬ 
chant and merchant, and a fum certain agreed to be due 
to one of them, if in fuch cafe he to whom the money is 
due does not bring his aftion within the limited time, 
lie is barred by the ftatute. i Jon. 401. 1 Saund. 124, 125. 
1 Lev. 287, 298. 2 n?r 72 . 456. An open current account, 
between tradefmen or others, is not within the ftatute, 
fuppofing the laft article of the debt in the account was 
contrafled within fix years; otherwife, in fuch cafe, the 
ftatute is a bar. But this exception does not extend to a 
tradefman’s account with his cuftomer; for in this cafe 
there are not mutual dealings; and the tradefman is barred 
by the ftatute from recovering for more than thofe articles 
which have been fold within fix years. Bull. N. P. 149. If 
there be a mutual account of any fort between a plaintiff 
and defendant, for any item of which credit has been 
given within fix years, that is evidence of an acknowledg¬ 
ment of there being fuch an open account between the 
parties, and of a promife to pay the balance, fo as to take 
the cafe out of the ftatute. 6 Term Rep. 189. 
By flat. 27Geo. III. c. 44, fuits in ecclefialtical courts for 
defamatory words mull be commenced within fix months. 
By 31 Eliz. c. 5, all fuits, indictments, and informations upon 
any penal ftatutes, where any forfeiture is to the crown 
alone, lhall be fued within two years; and, when the for¬ 
feiture is to a fubjeCl, or to the crown and a fubjeft, within 
one year after the offence committed; unlefs where any 
other time is fpecially limited by the ftatute. By 10 Will. 
III. c. 14, no writ of error, feire facias , or other fuit, fhall 
be brought to reverfe any judgment, fine, or recovery for 
error, unlefs it be profecuted within twenty years. By 
4 & 5 Ann. c. 16, all fuits in the court of admiralty for 
feamen’s wages fhall be commenced and fued within fix 
years next after the caule of fuit fhall accrue. 
No ftatute has fixed any limitation to a bond or fpeci- 
alty; but, where no intereft has been paid upon a bond, 
and no demand proved thereon for twenty years, the judges 
recommend it to the jury to prefume it difeharged, and 
to find a verdidl for the defendant. 
It feems to be the doftrine of courts of equity, that 
mortgages are not within the ftatute of limitations; yet, 
where a man comes in at an old hand, it has been fometimes 
decreed, that the pofleffor fhould account no farther than 
for the profits made in his own time, to difeourage the 
ftirring in fuch dormant titles; alfo the courts have al¬ 
lowed length of time to be pleaded in bar, where the 
mortgaged eftate hath defeended as a fee without entry or 
claim from the mortgagor, and where the pofleffor would 
be intangled in along account; and in thefe cafes the fta¬ 
tute of limitations has been mentioned as a proper direc¬ 
tion to go by. 1 Chan. Ca. 102. See Mortgage. 
There is no limitation with regard to the time within 
which any adtions touching advowfons are to be brought; 
at lead none later than the times of Richard I. and Hen¬ 
ry III. And this upon very good re a (on ; becaufe it may 
eafily happen, that the title toanadvowfon may not come 
in queftion, nor the right have opportunity to be tried, 
within fixty years; which is the longeft period of limi¬ 
tation affigned by the flat. 32 Hen. VIII. c. 2. For 
fir Edward Coke fays, that there was a parfon of one of 
bis churches that had been incumbent there above fifty 
years ; nor are inftances wanting where two fucceflive in¬ 
cumbents have continued for upwards of a hundred years. 
Had therefore the laft of thefe incumbents been the clerk 
of an ufurper, or had been prefented by lapfe, it would 
have been neceffary and unavoidable for the patron, in 
cafe of a difpute, to have-recurred back above a century, 
L I M 727 
in order to have fliown a clear title and feifin, by prefen- 
tation and admiflion of the prior incumbent. But though, 
for thefe reafons, a limitation is highly improper with 
refpedl only to the length of time, yet, as the title of ad¬ 
vowfons is, for want of fome limitations, rendered more 
precarious than that of any other hereditament, (efpeci- 
ally fince the ftat. 7 Ann. c. 18, has allowed pofleflbry 
actions to be brought upon any prior prefentation, how¬ 
ever diftant,) it might perhaps be better, if a limitation 
were eftabliflied, with refpe£t to the number of avoidances; 
or rather if a limitation were compounded of the length 
of time and the number of avoidances together ; for in- 
ftance, if no feifin w'ere admitted to be alleged in any of 
thefe writs of patronage after fixty years and three avoid¬ 
ances were paft. 
Limitation of the Crown. See the article King, 
vol. xi. p. 729. 
Limitation of Estate, a modification or fettlement 
of an eftate, determining how long it fhall continue; or 
a qualification of a precedent eftate. As to the origin and 
progrefs of the limitation of eltates, fee 1 Inf. 271 b. in n „ 
and the articles Conveyance, Estate, Deed, See. 
LIM'ITER, J'. A friar licenfed to beg within certain 
limits. Tyrwhitt. 
T mean me to difguize 
In fome ftrange habit after uncouth wize, 
Or like a pilgrim, or a limiter. Spenfer's Hubberd. 
LIMITING, f. The aft of fetting bounds; reftraining. 
LIM'ITLESS, adj. Boundlefs: 
To your divining tongue is given a power 
Of uttering fecrets large and limit lefs, Davies. 
LIMITROTO'PHI,/. Among the Romans, the fame 
with Limitanei. 
LIM'MA, or Leim'ma, / [Greek.] An interval of the 
Greek mufic, which is a comma lefs than the femitone 
major. 
LIM'MAT, a river of Swiflerland, which rifes in the 
Alps, about eleven miles fouth of Glarus, where it firft 
takes the name of Lint, or Linth ; pafies Glarus, and near 
the lake of Wallenltadt joins the Mat, when it changes 
its name to Limmat ; pafies through the lake of Zurich, 
and joins the Aar three miles north of Baden. 
LIM'ME, a town in Kent, near Hithe, and four miles 
from Romney, was formerly a port, till choked up by the- 
fands; and, though it is thereby become a poor town, 
yet it has the horn and mace, and other tokens left of its 
ancient grandeur; and ufed to be the place where the 
warden of the cinque-ports was fworn at his entrance 
upon his office. The Roman road from Canterbury, 
called Stane-ftreet, ended here ; and from the brow of its 
hill may be feen the ruinous Roman walls almoft at the 
bottom of the marfhes ; and Roman coinshave been found 
in the neighbourhood. Here formerly was a caftle, now 
converted into a farrn-houfe. When, or by whom, this 
edifice was erefted, is not known. It has, however, great 
marks of antiquity, as has alfo the adjoining church ; one 
of which is its weft door; and in it are feveral old tomb- 
ftones with crofles on them. 
LIM'MEN, a town of Holland : five miles fouth of 
Alomaer. 
LIM'MER, f. A mongrel; an animal generated be¬ 
tween different fpecies; one born of parents of different 
nations. Ainfwortk. 
To LIMN, v. a. [enluminer, Fr. to adorn books with 
pictures.] To draw ; to paint any thing.—How are the 
glories of the field fpun, and by what pencil are they 
limned in their unaffected bravery ? Glanville . 
Mine eye doth his effigies witnefs. 
Molt truly limn’d, and living in your face. Shakefpearei. 
LIM'NZE, a fortified place on the borders of Laconia 
and Mefienia.—A town of the Thracian Cherfonefus, with 
a temple of Diana. 
LIMNaSi'US (John), an eminent German jurift, was 
bortti 
