Are Corporations Free to Kill? Rethinking the Law on Corporate Manslaughter to Better Reflect the Artificial Legal Existence of Corporations

Authors

Lucy Hooper

Document Type

Article

Abstract

This year, 2018, marks the 10 year anniversary of the implementation of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. It is, therefore, an appropriate time to review its effectiveness and consider whether the Act has achieved what it set out to. Its introduction was a parliamentary attempt to address the key defects'2 under the previous identification doctrine, where a company's liability was dependant on gross negligent manslaughter being sought in the relevant directing mind and will. This article will highlight the inadequacies of the former regime and review to what extent the 2007 Act has resolved them. Importantly, it references the recent Grenfell Tower disaster, which, if corporate manslaughter charges are pursued, will be the Act's biggest and most public challenge to date.

Publication Date

2019-01-01

Publication Title

The Plymouth Law & Criminal Justice Review

Volume

11

Issue

1

First Page

150

Last Page

180

ISSN

2054-149X

Deposit Date

June 2019

Embargo Period

2024-11-04

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Hooper, Lucy (2019) "Are Corporations Free to Kill? Rethinking the Law on Corporate Manslaughter to Better Reflect the Artificial Legal Existence of Corporations," The Plymouth Law and Criminal Justice Review: Vol. 11, Article 7.
Available at: https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/plcjr/vol11/iss1/7