delivered the opinion of the court,
The plaintiff contends that the statute of Kansas cannot' apply-to actions which accrued more than two years before its passage, because it would cut them off and defeat them altogether, and would thus impair the obligation of contracts.
A literal interpretation of the statute would have this effect. But it is evident that the legislature could not have had any such intention. The court below held, that as the defendant was a resident of Kansas when the act took effect, the time of limitation began to run. in his favor as against the present cause of action from that period; and that the action might have been brought at .any time within two years afterwards; and not having been.brought within that period it was barred. In other words, the ■ court held that the act was prospective in its operation, and affected -existing causes of action only from the time of its passage. T-his seems to us a reasonable construction and .one that prevents the legislative intent from being frustrated. “ Words in a statute,” says Justice Paterson, “ ought not to have a retrospective operation, unless.they are so clear, strong, and imperative that-no other meaning can be annexed to them, or unless the intention of the legislature cannot be otherwise
The plaintiff contends that the application of this rule to the statute in question would have the effect of. restricting its application to actions accruing after the passage of the act. But this is not a necessary conclusion.
. A statute of limitations may undoubtedly have effect upon actions which have already accrued as well as upon actions' which accrue after its passage. Whether it does so or not will depend upon the language of the act, and the apparent intent of the legislature to be gathered therefrom. When a statute declares generally that no action, or no action of a certain class shall be brought, except within a certain limited time after it shall have accrued, the language of the statute would make it apply to past actions as well as to those arising in the future. But if an action accrued more than- the limited, time before the statute was passed a literal interpretation of the statute would have the effect of absolutely barring such action at once. It will be presumed that such was not the intent of the legislature. Such an intent would be unconstitutional. To avoid such a result, and to give the statute a construction that will enable it to stand, courts have given it a prospective operation. In doing this, three different modes have been adopted by different courts. One is to make the statute apply only to causes of action arising after its passage. . But as this construction leaves all actions existing at the passage of the act, without any limitation at all (which, it is presumed, could not have been intended), another rule adopted is, to construe the statute as applying to such existing actions only as have already run out a portion of the statutory time, but which still have a reasonable time left for prosecution before the statutory time expires— which reasonable time is to be estimated by the court — leav
Judgment affirmed.