In relation to banking cases, different jurisdiction around the world provide for a limitation of action period within the different pieces of legislations which a case can be validly logged in court. Therefore an action cannot be brought after the expiration of the limitation period from the date on which it accrued. if it is a simple contract, the determination of the accrual date would be looked for in terms of the contract, as it is possible that the parties might have provided the date when; if it is a debt, it should become due for payment. That very date according to the case of National Bank v Peters,1971(1) ALR Comm.262, at p.268
then becomes the date when the cause of action accrues. This is the main reason as to way future bankers need to read and understand every detail of the bank account opening contract before they get to sign either with the assistance of a professional legal consultant or the person that served him with that document in the bank. Normally for current account time does not begin to run until the customer has made a demand and a demand has not been complied with as it stated in the case of Africa continental Bank Ltd v Chima and others, 1975(2) ALR Comm.298.
then becomes the date when the cause of action accrues. This is the main reason as to way future bankers need to read and understand every detail of the bank account opening contract before they get to sign either with the assistance of a professional legal consultant or the person that served him with that document in the bank. Normally for current account time does not begin to run until the customer has made a demand and a demand has not been complied with as it stated in the case of Africa continental Bank Ltd v Chima and others, 1975(2) ALR Comm.298.
The assertion that a bank account is a chose in action or an "incorporeal right" which can be a subject of civil action as a property right fails to support the argument which is a defence for most financial institutions now days that one can not demand for his or her money that he deposited with the bank after the expiration of a given time(number of years). The rational for this is that failure to make such payment by the financial institution would constitute a deprivation of property which is a key right that is recognized by various constitutions of different jurisdictions around the world. Due to the modern banking practice, now days Financial institutions have come up with new techniques of drafting contracts that provide for a certain period where the banker cannot recover from what is termed as a "dormant account". An account is said to be dormant if if it is not operated for a given number of years basing on the jurisdiction legislations or as specified by the terms of the contract. It is then transferred to the register of dormant accounts. And if there is no claimant after the time period specified within the legislation of a given jurisdiction or according to the terms of the contract (years) it becomes bona vacantia and the funds are taken over by the central Bank and legally the bank gets a good discharge. However, depending on the jurisdiction you are in and the way the law applies there are always exception and one can get to recover his or her money as a banker even after the expiration of the provided period of a given number of years.