D. Defenses

• Library: Elements of Civil Causes of Action (SCBar) (2021 Ed.)

D. Defenses

In most of the reported appellate opinions the writ sought was refused for failure to meet one of the elements. The cases do not discuss defenses, and the affirmative defenses ordinarily raised in the typical cause of action would have no application to prohibition. In theory a statute of limitation might be a defense, but it does not appear that any South Carolina appellate court has discussed the application of a statute of limitation. None of the statutes of limitation is made specifically applicable to writs, although it appears that the ten-year limitation is the one that would govern.⁷⁵ In practice it's a moot point. The writ of prohibition is in effect an interlocutory appeal,⁷⁶ applied for when an underlying action is pending before a lower tribunal. Indeed, as noted above, a general requirement of the writ is that there be a matter actually pending in an inferior court that the...