Law Dictionary

Product liability is the legal responsibility of manufacturers, distributors and sellers for loss caused by defective products. In British Columbia, manufacturers are liable in negligence for careless design, manufacture or inadequate warnings, while sellers can also be liable in contract under the Sale of Goods Act's implied conditions of merchantable quality and fitness for purpose.

Product liability is the legal responsibility of manufacturers, distributors and sellers for harm caused by defective or dangerous products. In Canada it rests mainly on negligence, including defective design or manufacture and failure to warn, and on contract between a seller and its buyer.

Professionalism refers to the standards of competence, integrity and conduct expected of members of a profession. For BC lawyers, these standards are set out in the Code of Professional Conduct for British Columbia and enforced by the Law Society of British Columbia.

Professional liability is a professional's legal responsibility to clients, and sometimes to others, for losses caused by failing to meet the standard of care of a reasonably competent member of that profession. The term also refers to the insurance professionals carry to cover such claims.

Professional negligence is a professional's failure to meet the standard of a reasonably competent member of their profession, causing a client loss. In British Columbia, a business can sue lawyers, accountants, engineers and other advisors in negligence and contract, and must generally start the claim within two years of discovering the loss under the Limitation Act.

A promissory note is a signed, written, unconditional promise by one person (the maker) to pay a fixed sum of money to another (the payee) on demand or on a set date. In Canada, promissory notes are governed by the federal Bills of Exchange Act. A note proves a debt but does not by itself give the lender security.

Property means anything that can be owned. Real property is land and things attached to it, such as buildings; personal property includes goods, equipment and vehicles, as well as intangibles such as shares, debts and intellectual property rights.

Property rights are the legal rights of an owner to possess, use, exclude others from and transfer property. Their content depends on the type of property and on limits imposed by law, contracts or registered interests such as easements and covenants.

Property tax is an annual tax on real property in British Columbia. BC Assessment values each property as of July 1 of the prior year, and municipalities, regional districts and the province apply tax rates to that value. Owners who dispute an assessment must file a notice of complaint for the Property Assessment Review Panel, generally by January 31.

The public domain is the body of creative works that are not protected by copyright in Canada, usually because the copyright term has expired. Copyright generally lasts for the author's life plus 70 years. Government works are usually protected by Crown copyright, and open source software is licensed under copyright, not placed in the public domain.

Public interest refers to the welfare of the public as a whole, as opposed to private interests. In law, it is a factor that legislatures, regulators and courts weigh in their decisions, for example when granting licences, approving land use or deciding whether to grant an injunction.

Public nuisance is an activity or condition that unreasonably interferes with the public's health, safety, comfort or use of public places, such as obstructing a highway. In British Columbia, a private person or business can sue for public nuisance only if it suffered special damage different from the public generally; otherwise enforcement rests with government.

In contract law, public policy is the principle that a court will not enforce an agreement or term that is illegal or harmful to the public interest. British Columbia courts apply it to unreasonable restraints of trade, contracts to commit unlawful acts and, rarely, exclusion clauses, and it is a narrow ground for refusing to enforce international arbitral awards.

Public records are records that government bodies keep and make available to the public, such as land title records, BC Registry corporate filings, Personal Property Registry searches and court files. In British Columbia, access to records held by public bodies is governed by FOIPPA, while a business's use of personal information found in them is governed by PIPA.

The public trust doctrine is a US principle that certain natural resources are held by government in trust for public use. The Supreme Court of Canada left open whether it applies in Canada (British Columbia v Canadian Forest Products Ltd, 2004 SCC 38), and it is not part of BC real estate law.

Punitive damages are an exceptional award meant to punish and deter, not to compensate. British Columbia courts award them only for high handed, malicious or highly reprehensible conduct when compensatory damages are not enough to denounce it. In contract disputes, the plaintiff must also prove a separate actionable wrong, such as breach of the duty of good faith.

A purchase agreement is a contract for the purchase and sale of something, such as goods, land, shares or the assets of a business. In business acquisitions, the main forms are the share purchase agreement and the asset purchase agreement, which set out the price, representations, conditions and closing.

Qualified privilege is a defence to defamation for statements made where the speaker has a legal, social or moral duty or interest to communicate and the recipient has a corresponding duty or interest, such as an employment reference. In British Columbia, the defence is lost if the speaker acted with malice or exceeded the occasion.

Quantum meruit, Latin for "as much as is deserved", is a claim for reasonable payment for work or services provided. In British Columbia it arises where a contract does not fix the price, or where there is no enforceable contract and letting the other party keep the benefit unpaid would be unjust. It is common in construction disputes over extras.

To quash means to set aside a decision, order or document so that it has no legal effect. In British Columbia, the BC Supreme Court can quash a tribunal or government decision on judicial review under the Judicial Review Procedure Act, and can quash a summons or other process that was improperly issued. Court judgments are challenged by appeal instead.

Quasi-competition has no recognized legal meaning in Canada. The nearest real concept is competition law under the federal Competition Act, which addresses agreements between competitors, abuse of dominance and mergers, along with regulated industries where licensing limits competition.

Quasi-constitutional describes ordinary statutes that courts treat as fundamental, such as human rights and privacy laws. They are interpreted broadly and generally prevail over conflicting ordinary legislation, but they are not part of the Constitution and can be amended by the legislature in the usual way.

Quasi-contract is an older term for an obligation imposed by law to pay for a benefit received, as if there were a contract. Canadian law has abandoned this implied contract fiction, and such claims are now brought in unjust enrichment.

Quasi-estoppel is a US doctrine that is not part of BC law. The nearest real concept is estoppel, which in Canada can prevent a party from going back on a representation, promise or shared assumption that another party relied on to its detriment.

A quasi-judicial body is a tribunal or official, not a court, that decides individual rights by hearing evidence and applying law, such as the BC Human Rights Tribunal or a licensing panel. In British Columbia, these bodies must act fairly and impartially, and most of their decisions can be challenged by judicial review in the BC Supreme Court.