§ 8.01-228.Scope of limitations; "personal action" defined.

Section 8.01-228 opens Chapter 4 by setting the baseline everything else in the chapter builds on: if a statute prescribes a limitation period for an action, that action has to be filed within that period, full stop, unless some other part of the Code carves out an exception. It sounds obvious, but stating it plainly matters, because so much of the rest of the chapter consists of exceptions, extensions, and tolling rules that only make sense against this default.

The section also does a piece of definitional work that ripples through dozens of other sections in the chapter. It defines “personal action” to include any action where a plaintiff seeks a money judgment, whether the underlying harm is to a person or to property. That matters because later sections, like the two-year personal-injury period and the five-year property-damage period in § 8.01-243, use that same term, and this section is what tells a reader how far it reaches.

In practice, this section functions as a signpost rather than a rule anyone litigates directly. Lawyers cite it to establish that a limitations period is mandatory, not discretionary, and to confirm that a claim for money damages, whatever its label, falls within the chapter’s definition of a personal action.