Editing Statute of limitations (section)

==Purpose==
The purpose and effect of statutes of limitations are to protect defendants. There are three reasons for their enactment:<ref>''Halsbury's Laws of England'', 4th edition</ref>
* A [[plaintiff]] with a valid cause of action can pursue it with reasonable diligence.
* By the time a stale claim is litigated, a defendant might have lost evidence necessary to disprove the claim.
* Litigation of a long-dormant claim may result in more cruelty than justice.

In [[Classical Athens]], a five-year statute of limitations was established for almost all cases, exceptions being such as the prosecution of non-constitutional laws (which had no limitation). [[Demosthenes]] wrote that these statutes of limitations were adopted to control "[[sycophant]]s" (professional accusers).<ref name="Allen2003">{{cite book|last=Allen |first=Danielle S. |title=The World of Prometheus: The Politics of Punishing in Democratic Athens |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lKW3yiINadEC&pg=PA154 |year=2003 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-09489-2 |page=154}}</ref>

The limitation period generally begins when the plaintiff's cause of action accrues, meaning the date upon which the plaintiff is first able to maintain the cause of action in court, or when the plaintiff first becomes aware of a previous injury (for example, [[occupational lung disease]]s such as [[asbestosis]]).