In law

Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

, time constraints are placed on certain action

Lawsuit

A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...

s and filings

Filing (legal)

In law, filing is the act of submitting a document to the clerk of a court for the court's immediate consideration, for storage in the court's files, or both. Courts will not consider motions unless an appropriate memorandum or brief is filed before the appropriate deadline...

 in the interest of speedy justice, and additionally to prevent the evasion of the ends of justice by waiting until a matter is moot. The penalty for violating a legislative or court-imposed time constraint may be anything from a small fine to judicial determination of an entire case against one's interests.

For example, if a complaining party files an action and then fails to cause the papers pertaining thereto to be served on the opposing party within the time established by local rules, and is unable to convince the court that there was good and sufficient reason for the delay, he risks having his action dismissed with prejudice. If the opposing party is served with the papers and fails to respond within the time limit provided for his answer, he risks having the case decided against him by default

Default (law)

In law, a default is the failure to do something required by law or to appearat a required time in legal proceedings.In the United States, for example, when a party has failed to file meaningful response to pleadings within...

.

If one is aggrieved by the judicial outcome of an action and wishes to appeal

Appeal

An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....

, he may be forever barred from doing so if he fails to meet the deadline by which his appeal may be filed.

By court order, or by local rule, there may be other time constraints. One may be required to answer interrogatories

Interrogatories

In law, interrogatories are a formal set of written questions propounded by one litigant and required to be answered by an adversary, in order to clarify matters of fact and help to determine in advance what facts will be presented at any trial in the case.In civil cases, the issues to be decided...

 or a request to produce or other discovery

Discovery (law)

In U.S.law, discovery is the pre-trial phase in a lawsuit in which each party, through the law of civil procedure, can obtain evidence from the opposing party by means of discovery devices including requests for answers to interrogatories, requests for production of documents, requests for...

 pleading

Pleading

In law as practiced in countries that follow the English models, a pleading is a formal written statement filed with a court by parties in a civil action, other than a motion...

s within a given time. He may be required to give a certain number of days' advance notice before he intends to depose

Deposition (law)

In the law of the United States, a deposition is the out-of-court oral testimony of a witness that is reduced to writing for later use in court or for discovery purposes. It is commonly used in litigation in the United States and Canada and is almost always conducted outside of court by the...

 a party

Party (disambiguation)

Party is in origin a synonym of "part; division, partition". It can refer to any group gathered or united for a given purpose, including:* the participants of any expedition * A social gathering, see party...

 or witness

Witness

A witness is someone who has firsthand knowledge about an event, or in the criminal justice systems usually a crime, through his or her senses and can help certify important considerations about the crime or event. A witness who has seen the event first hand is known as an eyewitness...

. A court may order that there will be only a certain number of weeks or months allowed during which the parties to an action may conduct discovery. There may be a limitation placed upon a deposition

Deposition (law)

In the law of the United States, a deposition is the out-of-court oral testimony of a witness that is reduced to writing for later use in court or for discovery purposes. It is commonly used in litigation in the United States and Canada and is almost always conducted outside of court by the...

, requiring that the party taking it conclude his questioning within a certain number of hours or days.