the.com/statute of limitations

means A law that sets a deadline after which you can no longer bring a lawsuit or file criminal charges over a particular matter.

from From Latin statutum ('that which is established') and limitatio ('a bounding or limiting'), via Old French. 'Statute' entered legal English for a formally enacted law, while 'limitation' in its legal sense meant a fixed period restricting when an action could be brought — rooted in limes, the Latin word for a boundary line. The phrase took its modern shape in English law as courts and legislatures formalized the idea that claims, like fences, need edges.