Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007
Encyclopedia
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (c. 19) is an Act
of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
that seeks to broaden the law on corporate manslaughter in the United Kingdom
. The Act created a new offence respectively named corporate manslaughter, in England and Wales
and Northern Ireland
, and corporate homicide in Scotland.
The Act received the royal assent
on 26 July 2007 and came into force on 6 April 2008.
, a corporation
is a juristic person and is capable of committing, and being convicted of and sentence
d for, a criminal offence. However, some conceptual difficulty lies in fixing a corporation with the appropriate mens rea
. Before the Act, a corporation could only be convicted of manslaughter if a single employee of the company committed all the elements of the offence and was of sufficient seniority to be seen as embodying the "mind" of the corporation. The practical consequence of this was that such convictions were rare and there was public discontent where it was perceived that culpable corporations had escaped censure and punishment.
A Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill was introduced to the House of Commons
by Home Secretary
John Reid
on 20 July 2006.
An indictable offence
is committed if the way in which an organisation's activities are managed or organised:
Amounts to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed by the organisation to the deceased;
— and the way in which its activities are managed or organised by its senior management is a substantial element in the breach. Prosecution in England or Wales requires the permission of the Director of Public Prosecutions
, and in Northern Ireland, the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland
and no natural person
can be charged with aiding and abetting
the offence. The common law
offence of gross negligence
manslaughter, as it applies to corporations, is abolished.
owed by the organisation under the law of negligence
and is a question of law
for the judge
. Various government policy decisions; policing, military
and child protection activities; and emergency responses are excluded.
There are particular duties of care owed to persons in custody
(s. 2(1)(d)) and, owing to the sensitivity and difficulty of such duties, implementation of this section was delayed. The Ministry of Justice published a report on progress towards implementation in July 2008.
must consider whether the evidence shows that the organisation failed to comply with any health and safety legislation
that relates to the alleged breach, and if so:
The jury may also:
issued a consultative document recommending a starting point of a fine of 5% of company turnover
for a first offence with a not guilty plea
, rising to 10% of turnover.
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
that seeks to broaden the law on corporate manslaughter in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The Act created a new offence respectively named corporate manslaughter, in England and Wales
England and Wales
England and Wales is a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom...
and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland law
Northern Ireland law refers to the legal system of statute and common law operating in Northern Ireland since Northern Ireland was established as a separate jurisdiction within the United Kingdom in 1921.-Background:...
, and corporate homicide in Scotland.
The Act received the royal assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
on 26 July 2007 and came into force on 6 April 2008.
Background
In English lawEnglish law
English law is the legal system of England and Wales, and is the basis of common law legal systems used in most Commonwealth countries and the United States except Louisiana...
, a corporation
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
is a juristic person and is capable of committing, and being convicted of and sentence
Sentence (law)
In law, a sentence forms the final explicit act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. The sentence can generally involve a decree of imprisonment, a fine and/or other punishments against a defendant convicted of a crime...
d for, a criminal offence. However, some conceptual difficulty lies in fixing a corporation with the appropriate mens rea
Mens rea
Mens rea is Latin for "guilty mind". In criminal law, it is viewed as one of the necessary elements of a crime. The standard common law test of criminal liability is usually expressed in the Latin phrase, actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea, which means "the act does not make a person guilty...
. Before the Act, a corporation could only be convicted of manslaughter if a single employee of the company committed all the elements of the offence and was of sufficient seniority to be seen as embodying the "mind" of the corporation. The practical consequence of this was that such convictions were rare and there was public discontent where it was perceived that culpable corporations had escaped censure and punishment.
A Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill was introduced to the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
by Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
John Reid
John Reid (politician)
John Reid, Baron Reid of Cardowan, PC is a British politician, who served as a Labour Party Member of Parliament and cabinet minister under Tony Blair, most notably as Defence Secretary and then Home Secretary...
on 20 July 2006.
The offence
The Act attempts to align the offence of corporate killing north and south of the border.An indictable offence
Indictable offence
In many common law jurisdictions , an indictable offence is an offence which can only be tried on an indictment after a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is a prima facie case to answer or by a grand jury...
is committed if the way in which an organisation's activities are managed or organised:
- Causes a person's deathDeathDeath is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
; and
Amounts to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed by the organisation to the deceased;
— and the way in which its activities are managed or organised by its senior management is a substantial element in the breach. Prosecution in England or Wales requires the permission of the Director of Public Prosecutions
Director of Public Prosecutions
The Director of Public Prosecutions is the officer charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world...
, and in Northern Ireland, the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland
Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland
The Director of Public Prosecutions is the head of the Public Prosecution Service of Northern Ireland, and is appointed by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland. The current DPP is Sir Alasdair Fraser CB QC.-See also:*Director of Public Prosecutions...
and no natural person
Natural person
Variously, in jurisprudence, a natural person is a human being, as opposed to an artificial, legal or juristic person, i.e., an organization that the law treats for some purposes as if it were a person distinct from its members or owner...
can be charged with aiding and abetting
Aiding and abetting
Criminal=Aiding and abetting is an additional provision in United States criminal law, for situations where it cannot be shown the party personally carried out the criminal offense, but where another person may have carried out the illegal act as an agent of the charged, working together with or...
the offence. The common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
offence of gross negligence
Gross negligence
Gross negligence is a legal concept which means serious carelessness. Negligence is the opposite of diligence, or being careful. The standard of ordinary negligence is what conduct one expects from the proverbial "reasonable person"...
manslaughter, as it applies to corporations, is abolished.
Organisations liable
The offence applies to:- CorporationCorporationA corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
s; - PartnershipPartnershipA partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests.Since humans are social beings, partnerships between individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments, and varied combinations thereof, have always been and remain commonplace...
s, trade unionTrade unionA trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s and employers' associations, that are themselves employersLabour lawLabour law is the body of laws, administrative rulings, and precedents which address the legal rights of, and restrictions on, working people and their organizations. As such, it mediates many aspects of the relationship between trade unions, employers and employees...
. - Police forces;
- Various, but not all, government departments;
Relevant duty of care
A relevant duty of care is one of several duties of careDuty of care
In tort law, a duty of care is a legal obligation imposed on an individual requiring that they adhere to a standard of reasonable care while performing any acts that could foreseeably harm others. It is the first element that must be established to proceed with an action in negligence. The claimant...
owed by the organisation under the law of negligence
Negligence
Negligence is a failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in like circumstances. The area of tort law known as negligence involves harm caused by carelessness, not intentional harm.According to Jay M...
and is a question of law
Question of law
In jurisprudence, a question of law is a question which must be answered by applying relevant legal principles, by an interpretation of the law. Such a question is distinct from a question of fact, which must be answered by reference to facts and evidence, and inferences arising from those facts...
for the judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
. Various government policy decisions; policing, military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
and child protection activities; and emergency responses are excluded.
There are particular duties of care owed to persons in custody
Imprisonment
Imprisonment is a legal term.The book Termes de la Ley contains the following definition:This passage was approved by Atkin and Duke LJJ in Meering v Grahame White Aviation Co....
(s. 2(1)(d)) and, owing to the sensitivity and difficulty of such duties, implementation of this section was delayed. The Ministry of Justice published a report on progress towards implementation in July 2008.
Gross breach
A breach of a duty of care by an organisation is a gross breach if the alleged conduct amounts to a breach of that duty that falls far below what can reasonably be expected of the organisation in the circumstances. The juryJury (England and Wales)
In the legal jurisdiction of England and Wales, there is a long tradition of jury trial that has evolved over centuries.-History:The English jury has its roots in two institutions that date from before the Norman conquest in 1066...
must consider whether the evidence shows that the organisation failed to comply with any health and safety legislation
Legislation
Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...
that relates to the alleged breach, and if so:
- How serious that failure was; and
- How much of a riskRiskRisk is the potential that a chosen action or activity will lead to a loss . The notion implies that a choice having an influence on the outcome exists . Potential losses themselves may also be called "risks"...
of death it posed.
The jury may also:
- Consider the extent to which the evidence shows that there were attitudes, policies, systems or accepted practices within the organisation that were likely to have encouraged the failure, or to have produced tolerance of it; and
- Have regard to any health and safety guidance that relates to the alleged breach.
Senior management
Senior management means the persons who play significant roles in:- The making of decisions about how the whole or a substantial part of its activities are to be managed or organised; or
- The actual managing or organising of the whole or a substantial part of those activities.
Penalties
On conviction a corporation may be ordered to remedy any breach, or to publicise its failures, or be given an unlimited fine. Sentencing guidelines are expected in autumn 2008 but on 15 November 2007, the Sentencing Guidelines CouncilSentencing Guidelines Council
The Sentencing Guidelines Council was a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom, created by s.167 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. It gave authoritative guidance on sentencing to the courts of England and Wales...
issued a consultative document recommending a starting point of a fine of 5% of company turnover
Revenue
In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....
for a first offence with a not guilty plea
Plea
In legal terms, a plea is simply an answer to a claim made by someone in a civil or criminal case under common law using the adversary system. Colloquially, a plea has come to mean the assertion by a criminal defendant at arraignment, or otherwise in response to a criminal charge, whether that...
, rising to 10% of turnover.
External links
- The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, as amended from the National Archives.
- The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, as originally enacted from the National Archives.
- Explanatory notes to the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.