W

Waiver

The act of voluntarily giving up, or intentionally relinquishing, a claim, benefit or interest. A landlord waives his right of forfeiture, when a tenant is in breach of covenant, if he knows of the breach and accepts or demands rent or unequivocally recognises the continued existence of the lease.

Warranty

A statement attesting to a particular state of affairs, such as the good quality of merchandise, clear title to real estate or that a fact stated in a contract is true.

Wayleave Agreement

A formal agreement entered into with a property owner to give a service provider (e.g. electricity or telephone company) a right for their pipe or cable to pass through or over their property.

Will

A document declaring how an individual wishes to dispose of their assets upon his or her death.

Winding-Up (or liquidation)

The procedure whereby the assets of a company are realised, the liabilities met and the surplus, if any, distributed to members.

Winding-Up Order

The order made by the court for a company to be placed in compulsory liquidation.

Winding-Up Petition

A winding-up petition is a petition presented to the court seeking an order that a company be put into compulsory liquidation.

WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation)

International body responsible for facilitating the granting of intellectual property rights throughout the world.

Without prejudice

This refers to negotiations between the Claimant and Defendant which take place with a view to a settlement and which cannot be revealed to the Court except under limited circumstances.

Witness

An individual must be seen signing their will by two witnesses, and he or she is then required to watch the witnesses sign the document. The witnesses must also watch each other sign the will. No beneficiary (or their spouse) should sign the will; if they do, any gift to them or their spouse will be invalid.

Wrongful dismissal

A remedy for unjustifiable dismissal based on contractual rights.

Wrongful Trading

Applied to companies in liquidation where directors allowed the company to continue trading in circumstances where they should have concluded that there was no reasonable prospect that the company would avoid going into liquidation. The directors involved may be made personally liable to make a contribution to the company’s assets.