Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/673

 L I M L I M 651 the case out of the statute. The Act 9 Geo. IV. c. 14 (Lord Tenterden s Act) requires any promise or admission of liability to be in writing and signed by the party to be charged, otherwise it will not bar the statute. Contracts under seal are governed as to limitation by 3 & 4 William IV. c. 42, which provides that actions for rent upon any indenture of demise, or of covenant, or debt, or any bond or other specialty, and on recognizances, must be brought within twenty years after cause of action. Actions of debt on an award (the submission being not under seal), or for a copyhold fine, or for money levied on a writ of fieri facias, must be brought within six years. Of the miscellaneous limitations fixed by various Acts, the following may be noticed. Suits and indictments under penal statutes are limited to two years if the forfeiture is to the crown, to one year if the forfeiture is to the common informer. Penal actions by persons aggrieved are limited to two years (3 &, 4 Will. IV. c. 42). Actions brought against a justice of the peace for acts done in the execution of his office are limited to six calendar months (11 & 12 Viet. c. 44). Acts done under any local or personal Act of Parliament can only be sued upon within two years (5 & G Viet, c. 97). A defence under the statutes of limitations must in general be specially pleaded. Limitation is regarded strictly as a law of procedure. The English courts will therefore apply their own rules to all actions, although the cause of action may have arisen in a country in which different rules of limitation exist. This is also a recognized principle of private international law. United States. The principle of the statute of limitations has passed with some modification into the statute-books of every State in the Union except Louisiana, whose laws of limitation are essentially the prescriptions of the civil law drawn from the Partidas, or &quot;Spanish Code.&quot; As to personal actions, it is generally provided that they shall be brought within a certain specified time usually six years or less from the time when the cause of action accrues, and not after, v/hile for land the &quot;general if not universal limitation of the right to bring action or to make entry is to twenty years after the right to enter or to bring the action accrues &quot; (Bouvier s Law Dictionary, art. &quot; Limitations &quot;). The constitutional provision prohibiting States from passing laws impairing the obligation of con tracts is not infringed by a law of limitations, unless it bars a right of action already accrued without giving a reason able term within which to bring the action. (E. E.) LIMOGES, capital of the department of Haute Vienne, France, and the ancient capital of Limousin, lies in the form of an amphitheatre on the right bank of the Vienne, 248 miles by rail south-south-west from Paris, on the Paris and Toulouse Railway, at its junction with the Charente line. It has also direct railway communication by Bellac with Poitiers. The population in 1876 was 59,011. In spite of many modern improvements and clearances, commenc ing with the administration of Turgot in 1762, the city still contains old quarters, which are dark, wretched, and un healthy. The cathedral, the most remarkable building, not only in the town but in the entire province, is in the Parisian Ogival style, and occupies the site of an old heathen basilica, which, according to tradition, was transformed into a Chris tian church by St Martial. The present edifice was built between 1273 and 1327, and has been quite recently re stored, the north front of the transept, distinguished by the richness and perfection of its details, having been finally completed in 1851. The campanile is an elegant slightly leaning tower, 204 feet high. The interior of the church is remarkable for the boldness and elegance of its construc tion. It has a magnificent rood-loft, attributed to Bishop Jean de Langeac (1533) ; close by the choir screen is the mausoleum of the same prelate. The glass was repaired in the 16th century, but is still undergoing restoration. Under the choir is the crypt of the old Roman church, containing frescos of the llth century. Some of the houses still standing in Limoges date from the Middle Plan of Limoges. Ages ; and commemorative tablets mark the birthplace of the chancellor D Aguesseau and of Marshals Jourdan and Bugeaud. There is a museum of painting and sculpture, and, in connexion with the local industry, a very valuable ceramic museum. Limoges is the headquarters of the 12th army corps, and is also the seat of several learned societies, and of a court of appeal. The principal industry is the manufacture of porcelain. The kaolin of St Yrieix is of such superior quality that it is exported even to America; the pegmatite used for enamel is obtained at Chanteloube, about 25 miles from Limoges, on the Paris railway. Thirty-five factories with eighty furnaces and fifty-four painting rooms (800 artists) employ 5800 workers of both sexes, and produce goods to the annual value of 12 millions of francs. There are many others in the immediate neighbourhood of the town. Limoges has also wool and cotton spinning-mills, and cloth factories, paper-works, foundries, &c. Shoemaking gives employment to 600 persons, and the manufacture of clogs to 250. There is an extensive trade in wine and spirits, cattle, cereals, and wood. The Vienne is navigable for rafts above Limoges, and the logs brought down by the current are stopped at the entrance of the town by the inhabitants of the Naveix quarter, who form a special guild for this industry. Limoges was a place of importance even at tlie time of the Roman conquest, ami sent ten thousand soldiers to the defence of Alesia. In 11 B.C. it took the name of Augustus (Auyitstoritum) ; but in the 4th century it was anew called by the name of the Lcmoviocs, whose capital it was. It then contained palaces and baths, had its own senate and the right of coinage. (Till 1837 it had a mint.) Christianity was introduced by St Martial. In the 5th century Limoges was devastated by the Vandals and the Visigoths. Viscounts were set over it by Clovis. It suffered again in the wars between the Franks and the people of A&amp;lt;juitaine, from Xonnan