Corporate Manslaughter
● Corporate manslaughter is where the company is responsible for the manslaughter
● In law, a company is classed as an individual ‘person’ or having its own ‘legal personality
● This means a company can be sued as if its an individual in a civil case
● A company can make contracts, by property, sue or be sued just like an individual
● Owners and employees of the company act on behalf of the company (the company cannot represent itself)
● In certain circumstances, a company can also be criminally liable, but there are certain offences it cannot be
charged with rape, bigamy, perjury etc
● A company cannot be criminally liable if the only punishment available is prison or community service- usually a fine
, The old principle of identification
● used to apply the principle of identification to decide who within the company to sue on their behalf
● To do this- a person must find who within the company was ‘the directing mind and will of the company’.
R v Kite and OLL Ltd (1994)- four college students dead in canoe accident due to inadequate instructions from
inexperience instructors
● D (Mr Kite) was the managing director of a small company that provided outdoor holidays for students. A group of
college students were staying at the centre for 5 days and the students were canoeing in a bay when the weather
worsened. Four of the group died when their canoes capsized.
● The managing director had been warned about his methods and inadequate safety measures. The students had
been given inadequate instructions from inexperienced instructors
● Both the managing director and the company were convicted
● Legal principle- Mr Kite was the directing mind and will of the company under the principle of identification
● Corporate manslaughter is where the company is responsible for the manslaughter
● In law, a company is classed as an individual ‘person’ or having its own ‘legal personality
● This means a company can be sued as if its an individual in a civil case
● A company can make contracts, by property, sue or be sued just like an individual
● Owners and employees of the company act on behalf of the company (the company cannot represent itself)
● In certain circumstances, a company can also be criminally liable, but there are certain offences it cannot be
charged with rape, bigamy, perjury etc
● A company cannot be criminally liable if the only punishment available is prison or community service- usually a fine
, The old principle of identification
● used to apply the principle of identification to decide who within the company to sue on their behalf
● To do this- a person must find who within the company was ‘the directing mind and will of the company’.
R v Kite and OLL Ltd (1994)- four college students dead in canoe accident due to inadequate instructions from
inexperience instructors
● D (Mr Kite) was the managing director of a small company that provided outdoor holidays for students. A group of
college students were staying at the centre for 5 days and the students were canoeing in a bay when the weather
worsened. Four of the group died when their canoes capsized.
● The managing director had been warned about his methods and inadequate safety measures. The students had
been given inadequate instructions from inexperienced instructors
● Both the managing director and the company were convicted
● Legal principle- Mr Kite was the directing mind and will of the company under the principle of identification
