How long does it take to curse someone before you can sue?

Five years. If a crime is suspected, the statute of limitations is five years.

Insulting others may constitute the crime of insult and be punished by imprisonment for not more than three years, criminal detention, surveillance, or deprivation of political rights. However, it should be noted that general insults infringe on the reputation rights of the other party and constitute civil tort liability. According to the provisions of Article 42 of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law, they shall be detained for not more than five days or fined not more than 500 yuan. If the circumstances are more serious, Detention for not less than five days but not more than ten days, and a fine of not more than five hundred yuan may be imposed; if the circumstances are serious, such as the use of bad means or the insult causing serious consequences (for example, the victim commits suicide due to the insult, or is mentally disturbed due to the insult, etc.), Repeated insults, etc., constitute the crime of insult and are punishable by up to three years in prison, criminal detention, public surveillance, or deprivation of political rights.

Insulting behavior must be done openly. The so-called "open" insult refers to insulting others in front of a third party or even everyone, or in a way that can be heard or seen by an unspecified person or a large number of people. Publicity does not necessarily require the presence of the victim. If the insult is only done in front of the victim, without a third party present and impossible to be known by the third party, it does not constitute the crime of insult. Because only the presence of a third party can damage the victim's external reputation.

The insult must be directed at a specific person. The specific person can be one person or several people, but it must be specific and identifiable. Swearing without a specific target in public does not constitute the crime of insult. The deceased cannot be the object of insult in this crime, but if the perpetrator insults the deceased on the surface but actually insults the family of the deceased, it should be deemed as a crime of insult.

Behavior that openly insults others must be serious enough to constitute this crime. Although there is behavior that openly insults others, it is not serious and is only a general civil infringement. The so-called serious circumstances mainly refer to situations where the means are bad and the consequences are serious, such as forcing the victim to crawl under one's legs in public; tearing off the victim's clothes in public; smearing the victim's face, hanging torn shoes, dragging the victim through the streets with a cuckold; Coercing the victim to eat or sprinkling excrement and other filthy objects on the body; coercing the victim to engage in obscene acts such as kissing and masturbating with the corpse; causing mental disorder or suicide by openly insulting others; repeatedly insulting others and damaging their personality and reputation. Suffering great harm; insulting personnel performing official duties, women and even foreign guests, causing a bad influence, etc.

Legal Basis

Article 87 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China

Criminals with a statute of limitations will no longer be prosecuted after the following period:< /p>

(1) If the statutory maximum penalty is fixed-term imprisonment of less than five years, after five years; (2) If the statutory maximum penalty is more than five years but less than ten years of fixed-term imprisonment, after ten years Years;

(3) If the statutory maximum penalty is fixed-term imprisonment of more than ten years, after fifteen years;

(4) If the statutory maximum penalty is life imprisonment or death, after two years ten years. If it is deemed necessary to pursue prosecution after twenty years, it must be reported to the Supreme People's Procuratorate for approval.