No acknowledgment or promise is sufficient evidence of a new or continuing contract, by which to take the case out of the operation of this title, unless the same is contained in some writing, signed by the party to be charged thereby, provided that any payment on account of principal or interest due on a promissory note made by the party to be charged shall be deemed a sufficient acknowledgment or promise of a continuing contract to stop, from time to time as any such payment is made, the running of the time within which an action may be commenced upon the principal sum or upon any installment of principal or interest due on such note, and to start the running of a new period of time, but no such payment of itself shall revive a cause of action once barred.
§ 360.Acknowledgment Or Promise of New Or Continuing Contract
Title 2. Of the Time of Commencing Civil Actions · Chapter 4. General Provisions as to the Time of Commencing Actions · Last amended 1955 · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 360 requires a written, signed acknowledgment or promise to restart a limitations period on a contract, though a payment on a promissory note's principal or interest counts as sufficient acknowledgment to restart the clock without itself reviving an already time-barred claim.
Full Text of § 360
Plain-English Summary
Section 360 sets the form an acknowledgment or new promise must take to remove a claim from the operation of this title's time limits. It must be in writing and signed by the party to be charged — an oral acknowledgment or promise does not restart a limitations period.
The section makes one significant exception for promissory notes: a payment toward principal or interest due on a note, made by the party to be charged, counts as a sufficient acknowledgment on its own. Each such payment stops the running of the existing period and starts a new one, without needing a separate signed writing.
That exception has a limit built in. A payment made after a claim on the note is already barred does not revive it — the payment-as-acknowledgment rule only works to keep a still-live claim moving forward, not to resurrect one that has already expired.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a verbal promise to pay an old debt restart the statute of limitations?
No. Section 360 requires the acknowledgment or promise to be in writing and signed by the party to be charged, except for the promissory-note payment rule described in the same section.
Does making a payment on a promissory note restart the limitations period?
Yes. Under § 360, a payment toward principal or interest due on a promissory note is itself a sufficient acknowledgment that restarts the running of the limitations period for that note.
Can a late payment revive an already time-barred note?
No. Section 360 states that such a payment does not itself revive a cause of action that is already barred.
Amendment History
Amended by Stats. 1955, Ch. 417.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 28, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: written acknowledgment restarts statute of limitations californiapayment on promissory note tolling