Lawsuits come in all sorts of odd types. Usually, though, most people accept the concept of a “statute of limitations,” which basically says that if you wait too long to sue, you’re out of luck. Usually a given statute of limitations is for a certain number of years, but almost all of them are shorter than a lifetime. I mean, if you haven’t sued by the time you die, it’s pretty much moot. Which is why a recent lawsuit filed by the Knights Templar is so odd. Known formally as the “Association of the Sovereign Order of the Temple of Christ,” the modern-day Knights Templar have sued the current Pope, Benedict XVI, calling for him to cough up around 100 billion euros worth of money for property seized… in 1307. That’s right, 1307 -- over seven hundred years ago. The Knights claim that when Pope Clement V dissolved the Knights Templar in 1307, more than 9,000 of the Knights’ properties were seized by the Church. The current lawsuit is intended, supposedly, to restore the good name of the Knights, as well as to get some quick cash. The Knights Templar were founded in 1099, and became quite wealthy before they were dissolved. The Knights have received notoriety recently due to books such as The DaVinci Code and films like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Still, their present task is a hard one. Somehow, it seems unlikely that the Catholic Church happens to have 100 billion euros lying around doing nothing. Plus, there is that little matter of the statute of limitations. Not many judges are going to admit the validity of a lawsuit from 700 years ago… especially since it’s far from clear what law you would use. The Magna Carta itself was only adopted in its final form ten years before the property seizures in question.