Law Dictionary

Overdue taxes are tax amounts not paid by their due date. The tax authority, such as the Canada Revenue Agency or the BC Ministry of Finance, charges interest and may impose penalties, and can collect by garnishing accounts, registering liens or taking other enforcement steps.

An overholding tenant is a commercial tenant who stays in possession after its lease has expired or been lawfully terminated. In British Columbia, after a written demand for possession, the landlord can apply to the BC Supreme Court under section 18 of the Commercial Tenancy Act for an order and writ of possession, and may claim compensation.

Overruling is when a court with the authority to do so declares that an earlier precedent from a different case is no longer good law. It differs from reversing a decision, which is when an appeal court overturns the lower court's decision in the same case.

Overtime pay is the higher wage an employer must pay for hours beyond daily or weekly limits. Under British Columbia's Employment Standards Act, most employees earn time and a half after 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week, and double time after 12 hours in a day. Managers and some occupations are excluded.

Overtures are informal approaches or preliminary proposals made to open negotiations, for example an expression of interest in buying a business. It is an ordinary business word rather than a legal term, and an overture usually creates no binding obligations.

Overvaluation means assigning an asset or business a value higher than its fair market value. It is a business and finance term rather than a legal one, but it has legal consequences in transactions, financing, insurance claims and tax filings.

Overzealous representation describes a lawyer advocating for a client in a way that crosses ethical limits, for example by misleading the court, making improper threats or treating opposing parties abusively. It is a descriptive phrase rather than a defined legal term.

An ownership dispute is a disagreement about who owns an asset, such as land, shares in a company, intellectual property or equipment. It may turn on contracts, registered records, who paid for the asset, or claims that someone holds property in trust for another.

An ownership interest is a person's share of ownership in an asset or business. In a company it is held as shares; in a partnership, as a partnership interest; in land, as a registered estate or interest; and in intellectual property, as ownership of the rights.

Ownership transfer is the process of passing ownership of an asset from one person to another. The method depends on the asset: land by a registered transfer, shares by a transfer recorded in the company's register, goods by sale and delivery, and intellectual property by written assignment.

A partnership is the relationship between two or more persons who carry on a business together with a view to profit. In BC, under the Partnership Act, general partners are each personally liable for the firm's debts and can bind the firm, and general partnerships must file a registration statement. Limited partnerships and LLPs offer limited liability.

Passing off is a claim a business brings when a competitor misrepresents its goods, services or business as connected to the claimant's, damaging the claimant's goodwill. In British Columbia it exists at common law and in statutory form under section 7 of the federal Trademarks Act, and it protects unregistered brands as well as registered trademarks.

A patent is a right granted by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office that lets the owner stop others from making, using or selling an invention in Canada, generally for 20 years from the filing date. To qualify, the invention must be new, useful and not obvious. Patents are federal law and apply the same way in British Columbia.

Patentability is whether an invention qualifies for patent protection. In Canada, an invention must be new, useful and not obvious to a person skilled in the field, and must be patentable subject matter; mere ideas, scientific principles and abstract theorems cannot be patented.

Patent infringement is making, using, selling or importing an invention protected by a Canadian patent without the patent owner's permission while the patent is in force. Patent rights are territorial, so a Canadian patent is infringed only by activity in Canada.

Perjury is knowingly making a false statement under oath or solemn affirmation, including in an affidavit, with intent to mislead a court or other proceeding. It is a serious federal criminal offence under the Criminal Code, ss. 131 and 132.

Personal injury is physical or psychological harm to a person caused by another's wrongful act or carelessness. Claims are usually brought in negligence, for example against an occupier for an injury on its premises or against a manufacturer for a defective product.

Personal property is any property that is not land or buildings, including equipment, inventory, vehicles, shares, accounts receivable and intellectual property. In British Columbia, lenders take security over personal property and register it in the Personal Property Registry under the Personal Property Security Act, which sets their priority against other creditors and buyers.

A power of attorney is a document in which one person, the adult, gives another, the attorney, legal authority to manage their financial and legal affairs. In British Columbia, an enduring power of attorney continues if the adult loses mental capacity and must meet the Power of Attorney Act's signing and witnessing rules. It does not cover health care decisions.

A precedent is an earlier court decision that guides how later cases with similar facts are decided. In British Columbia, lower courts must follow decisions of the Court of Appeal for British Columbia and the Supreme Court of Canada, and only a court with the authority to do so can overrule a binding precedent.

Prenuptial agreement is a US term. In BC, the equivalent is a marriage agreement or cohabitation agreement: a family agreement made before or during a marriage or marriage-like relationship that sets out how property and debts will be divided if the relationship ends.

In BC business law, privacy means the legal rules on how organizations collect, use, disclose and protect personal information. Most BC private businesses must follow the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), which requires consent, reasonable purposes, safeguards and access rights, while federally regulated businesses and cross border data transfers fall under PIPEDA.

A privacy breach is unauthorized access to, or collection, use, disclosure or loss of, personal information, such as through hacking or a misdirected email. BC's PIPA requires private businesses to use reasonable security but does not require breach notification. Organizations under federal PIPEDA must report breaches creating a real risk of significant harm to the Privacy Commissioner and affected individuals.

Probate is the court process that confirms a will is valid and confirms the executor's authority to deal with the deceased's assets. In BC it is a grant from the Supreme Court; where there is no will or no executor able to act, the court grants administration to an administrator.

Procurement is the process an organization uses to buy goods, services or construction, often through a call for tenders or request for proposals. In Canadian tender law, a formal call for tenders can create a preliminary contract (Contract A) obliging the owner to treat compliant bidders fairly and follow its own rules, while trade agreements also bind public bodies.