Corporate Liability: UK Bribery Act

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Chris Zane

Promising an incentive to stevedores to discharge a vessel in a timely manner, giving a bottle of whiskey to a customs official to avoid delays, or offering a large box of cigarettes to a port agent so as to receive special treatment. Activities such as these have always run the risk of falling foul of the criminal laws.

In this article we will read something about corporate liability and how the United Kingdom has drawn the boundaries to prevent the executors, who these executors can be? It was said in common law that "a corporation cannot commit treason, or felony, or other crime, in its corporate capacity though its members may, in their distinct individual capacities". That perception has been changed over time. First, it was agreed that a corporation might be held criminally liable for its failure to honor certain legal obligations (nonfeasance) then for the inadequate manner in which it performed certain legal obligations (malfeasance). At the dawn of the 20th century, the Supreme Court expressed a more sweeping view:

It is true that there are some crimes which, in their nature, cannot be committed by corporations. But there is a large class of offenses, wherein the crime consists in purposely doing the things prohibited by statute. In that class of crimes, we see no good reason why corporations may not be held responsible for and charged with the knowledge and purposes of their agents, acting within the authority conferred upon them. If it were not so, many offenses might go unpunished and acts be committed in violation of law where, as in the present case, the statute requires all persons, corporate or private, to refrain from certain practices, forbidden in the interest of public policy.

Introduction

Well, the United Kingdom (UK) has tough legislations in place when it comes to corporate misdeamonours. The two statues which plays the most crucial role to neck this are the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (CMCHA) and the Bribery Act 2010 (Bribery Act) - both of which focus attention on the management systems and controls of a corporate entity. It has been said by one of the jurists that "It doesn't matter who you are...