The Independent Commission for Human Rights The termination of a legal action has a prescribed time period which applies to a crime with respect to which no final unappeasable sentence has been issued. The period of limitation of a legal action concerning a crime extends to the day following the incidence of that crime, or when the last proceeding with regard to that crime has taken place if indeed a legal proceeding is in place. A legal action terminates after ten years from the date of the incidence of the crime when the crime concerned is felony, and after three years from the date of the incidence of the crime when the crime concerned is a misdemeanor. With regard to summary offenses, legal action terminates after one year from the date of the incidence of the offence unless the law provides otherwise68. The philosophy of the law of limitation is related to memories fading, as after a certain period of time of the occurrence of a crime with no legal action taken, people would tend to increasingly let it go. Public opinion would fade, no longer demanding punishment for its perpetrator after the passage of time69. Law in these cases is balanced between two contradicting concepts that are based on the right of punishment. The first is the concept of justice and the second is the public interest. There is no advantage for giving precedence to one over the other with the claim that absolute justice does not terminate over time, and this is because public interest can and does terminate over time: some crimes can be forgotten with the passage of time. Stopping an investigation into a crime in order to avoid arousing feelings of resentment or vengeance would be in the interest of the society, especially once the crime is forgotten. For this reason, the law considers the need for a statute of limitations in most crimes, regardless of their nature70. The termination of legal action in misdemeanors relies on the limitation of the time period which applies to a crime, and with respect to which no final criminal unappealable sentence attributing a certain person and imposing punishment on that person for it was issued. This would be regardless of the measures taken with respect to it, even if a preliminary sentence was issued in absentia against that person without notifying him to seize the chance to appeal the sentence issued against him. With the expiry of the limitation period, whether from the day following the crime or the day following the last measure taken thereof, the right of the state to take any legal action such as pursuing the perpetrator shall be lost. Amre and Sabagh emphasize that girls are sometimes subjected to the act of incest since an early age in their lives and continue to suffer that until they are capable of addressing sexual assaults through support from a member of the family, the husband or by committing suicide, escaping from home, or by the abuser’s decision to assault another victim. The statute of limitations with respect to the act of incest neglects the right of girls, especially with the requirement to promptly file complaints, as this allows the perpetrators to escape punishment. The expiry of the limitation period with regard to the act of incest shifts the crime committed against a young girl from a crime of rape to a crime of incest, the latter of which she can become accused and viewed as an accomplice. If sexual assault against a girl has continued for a long period, such as from an early age until she reaches the age of reason or an age when she is capable of disclosing this to a relative to file a lawsuit thereof, this contradicts with 68 . Article No. 12 from the Penal Procedure Code No. (3) of 2001. 69 Sarur, 1996. Al-Waseet in Explaining Penal Procedure Code, (Dar al-Nahda al-Arabia). 70 Aqeedeh, 2001. Explanation of the Code of Civil Procedure, (Dar al-Nahda al-Arabia;), pp. 2013-2014. 42