Foreign experience in applying criminal liability to legal entities

The article is dedicated to issues of criminal liability of legal entities. Criminal sanctions applicable to legal entities including measures of criminal punishment are reviewed. It is noted that where a death penalty (deprivation of life) is the supreme measure of punishment for individuals, the supreme measure of punishment for legal entities is liquidation of a legal entity, its death penalty in fact, which manifests itself in the loss of the legal capacity. Attention is paid to the fact that punishment in form of liquidation is usually imposed in cases when the activities of a legal entity were in general or to a great extent aimed at committing of criminal acts or when the seriousness of a committed crime makes it impossible to preserve a legal entity and continue its activities. It is noted that court may impose other punishments in addition to liquidation of a legal entity, for example, property seizure or a fine. The author gives examples of application of liquidation of a legal entity as a criminal punishment abroad. It is stated that in some countries it is possible to bring a legal entity to the criminal liability after winding up (loss of the legal capacity). Attention is focused on the fact that while death of an individual makes criminal prosecution impossible, loss of the legal capacity ("death" of a legal entity) should not exclude the criminal liability, as self-liquidation may for example be one of the ways of evasion from criminal liability by a legal entity. Conclusion is made that study of the foreign experience of introduction of the criminal liability of legal entities including application of such criminal sanction as liquidation of a legal entity and the establishment of the regulatory procedure for the criminal liability of a legal entity after winding up (loss of the legal capacity) is more than of theoretical interest only, as there are objective prerequisites for the introduction of the criminal liability of legal entities in the Russian Federation and study of foreign laws in the indicated sphere is important for the development of the Russian theory of the criminal liability of legal entities and drafting of the corresponding amendments to the Russian criminal laws.

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Criminal Liability and Crime and Punishment Proportionality in the Crime of Legal Entities

Journal of Politics and Law ◽

10.5539/jpl.v9n6p61 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 9 (6) ◽

pp. 61

Author(s):

Samira Soltani ◽

Ahmad Ramazani

Keyword(s):

Criminal Liability ◽

Penal Code ◽

Legal Person ◽

The Public ◽

Crime And Punishment ◽

Economic Exclusion ◽

The Law ◽

Definition Of ◽

Legal Entities ◽

The Way

One of the innovations of Islamic Penal Code in 2013 was to accept criminal liability of legal entities. By accepting criminal liability of legal entities, the way to punish them is arisen. As a legal person cannot commit any crime, any punishments are not applicable to them. Accordingly, Article 20 of this Law enumerated a list of penalties applicable to legal persons and it was tried to use penalties in accordance with the legal entities to deal with them. Punishments such as dissolution, confiscation, cash fine, announcement of the judgment, Diyeh, social and economic exclusion; such as a ban on business activities, prohibition of the public invitation to raise capital and ban from drawing business documents listed in Article 20 and Article 14, are a set of punishments which relatively different from usual punishment for individuals. These penalties are relative diversity, but what is objectionable is that the details and conditions of implementation of each of these punishments are not clear. If legislator described the details exactly or provided the condition to require the adoption of The Executive Bylaw of the punishment, it would be better. Given that all the points and issues about penalties for legal persons are not stated in this law as well as ambiguities in the law for a comprehensive definition of legal person, the way to implement main and supplementary punishments, In this study it was tried to evaluate and criticize the legal entities penalties including main and supplementary ones and their grading.

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Criminal Liability of Legal Entities under the Laws of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

Russian investigator ◽

10.18572/1812-3783-2018-8-73-80 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

pp. 73-80

Author(s):

Aleksandr V. Fedorov ◽

Keyword(s):

Criminal Liability ◽

Criminal Code ◽

Legal Entity ◽

Criminal Sanctions ◽

Republic Of Macedonia ◽

Special Part ◽

Yugoslav Republic ◽

The Republic ◽

Discretionary Powers ◽

Legal Entities

The article is dedicated to the review of the laws of the Republic of Macedonia (the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) on criminal liability of legal entities established in 2004 by introduction of amendments and supplements to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Macedonia. The article analyzes legal resolutions allowing consideration of a legal entity as a criminal liability subject; gives a scope of legal entities which can be brought to criminal liability; focuses on the fact that legal entities in the Republic of Macedonia may not be brought to criminal liability for any acts acknowledged as punishable by the national criminal laws, rather for the acts which are specifically addressed in the articles of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Macedonia or other criminal laws. The author reviews such types of criminal sanctions applicable to legal entities as a fine, legal entity liquidation, forfeiture and sentence publication; notes the circumstances taken into account at punishment imposition and conditions for release from punishment as well as criminal and procedural peculiarities of bringing legal entities to liability including indication of broad discretionary powers of a prosecutor in solution of issues on bringing legal entities to criminal liability.

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Criminal Liability of Legal Entities under the Laws of the Republic of Slovenia

Russian investigator ◽

10.18572/1812-3783-2018-5-75-80 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

pp. 75-80

Author(s):

Aleksandr V. Fedorov ◽

Keyword(s):

Criminal Liability ◽

Criminal Code ◽

Security Measures ◽

Legal Entity ◽

Criminal Sanctions ◽

Commercial Activities ◽

Criminal Offenses ◽

Conditional Sentence ◽

The Republic ◽

Legal Entities

The article is dedicated to review of the laws of the Republic of Slovenia on the criminal liability of legal entities; the main acts are the Special Law on the Liability of Legal Entities for Criminal Offenses of 1999 and the Criminal Code of the Republic of Slovenia. The article reviews statutory resolutions making it possible to review a legal entity as a criminal liability subject; gives a number of persons, which can be brought to criminal liability; focuses on the fact that legal entities can be brought to criminal liability in the Republic of Slovenia for a limited number of acts (crimes) defined by the law; considers criminal sanctions applicable to legal entities: fi ne, forfeiture of property, legal entity liquidation, prohibition to place securities held by a legal entity; reviews the possibility of imposition of a conditional sentence on a legal entity and the security measures applicable to legal entities, including: sentence publication and prohibition to engage in specific commercial activities.

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The History of the Development of the French Laws on Criminal Liability of Legal Entities

Russian investigator ◽

10.18572/1812-3783-2018-1-46-56 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 46-56

Author(s):

Aleksandr V. Fedorov ◽

◽

Mikhail V. Krichevtsev ◽

Keyword(s):

Criminal Law ◽

Criminal Liability ◽

Legal Regulation ◽

Economic Crime ◽

Penal Code ◽

Criminal Prosecution ◽

History Of ◽

The Law ◽

Legal Entities

The article reviews the history of development of French laws on criminal liability of legal entities. The authors note that the institution of criminal liability of legal entities (collective criminal liability) dates back to the ancient times and has been forming in the French territory for a long time. Initially, it was established in the acts on collective liability residents of certain territories, in particular, in the laws of the Salian Franks. This institution was inherited from the Franks by the law of the medieval France, and got transferred from the medieval period to the French criminal law of the modern period. The article reviews the laws of King Louis XIV as an example of establishment of collective criminal liability: the Criminal Ordinance of 1670 and the Ordinances on Combating Vagrancy and Goods Smuggling of 1706 and 1711. For the first time ever, one can study the Russian translation of the collective criminal liability provisions of the said laws. The authors state that although the legal traditions of collective liability establishment were interrupted by the transformations caused by the French Revolution of 1789 to 1794, criminal liability of legal entities remained in Article 428 of the French Penal Code of 1810 as a remnant of the past and was abolished only as late as in 1957. The publication draws attention to the fact that the criminal law codification process was not finished in France, and some laws stipulating criminal liability of legal entities were in effect in addition to the French Penal Code of 1810: the Law on the Separation of Church and State of December 9, 1905; the Law of January 14, 1933; the Law on Maritime Trade of July 19, 1934; the Ordinance on Criminal Prosecution of the Press Institutions Cooperating with Enemies during World War II of May 5, 1945. The authors describe the role of the Nuremberg Trials and the documents of the Council of Europe in the establishment of the French laws on criminal liability of legal entities, in particular, Resolution (77) 28 On the Contribution of Criminal Law to the Protection of the Environment, Recommendation No. R (81) 12 On Economic Crime, the Recommendation No. R (82) 15 On the Role of Criminal Law in Consumer Protection and Recommendation No. (88) 18 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States Concerning Liability of Enterprises Having Legal Personality for Offences Committed in the Exercise of Their Activities. The authors conclude that the introduction of the institution of criminal liability of legal entities is based on objective conditions and that research of the history of establishment of the laws on collective liability is of great importance for understanding of the modern legal regulation of the issues of criminal liability of legal entities.

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Problems of implementing antitrust compliance in Russia (applicability of foreign experience)

Russian competition law and economy ◽

10.32686/2542-0259-2020-2-30-35 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 30-35

Author(s):

D. Z. Kairova

Keyword(s):

Foreign Experience ◽

Foreign Countries ◽

Legal Entities

The concept of antitrust compliance, the prospects for its implementation in the activities of legal entities of Russia (taking into account the relevant experience of individual foreign countries) are considered. It also analyzes the possibility of classifying the presence of an antitrust system in companies as extenuating circumstances in case of violations of the relevant legislation. Factors that can increase the productivity of this system are investigated.

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Corporate Criminal Liability for the Criminal Offences in Lithuania

Statute Law Review ◽

10.1093/slr/hmaa010 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Tomas Girdenis ◽

Marius Laurinaitis ◽

Irmantas Rotomskis ◽

Raimundas Jurka

Keyword(s):

Criminal Responsibility ◽

Criminal Liability ◽

Legal Regulation ◽

Financial Reports ◽

The Supreme Court ◽

Illegal Activities ◽

Material Advantage ◽

Corporate Criminal Liability ◽

Limited Scope ◽

Legal Entities

Abstract Cases, where operations of legal entities entail unfair income through the malpractice of improving financial reports, are quite frequent. Such behaviour is unacceptable and deserves a stern response from the state, not only against persons involved in illegal activities but also against particular legal entities resorting to such behaviour. The purpose of this article is to analyse the elements of corporate criminal liability in the legislation of Lithuania. The article investigates the fundamentals of corporate criminal liability with the major focus on the problems of distinction and applicability of relevant elements of the latter. The analysis emphasizes the assurance of the inevitability of corporate criminal liability. The article also discusses the method of criminalizing the liability of legal entities, chosen by the Lithuanian legislator, according to which criminal liability can arise only for a limited scope of criminal offences. Presumably, the current legal regulation enables an unreasonable avoidance of criminal liability in cases where the criminal offence falls outside the aforementioned limited scope, even though it was committed to gain a material advantage over the affected party. The article also addresses the guilt of legal entities. In this regard, the article criticizes the approach of the Supreme Court of Lithuania for its evident limitation of corporate criminal liability, especially in the context of large corporations owned by many shareholders. As a possible solution, it was proposed to lay criminal responsibility on corporate governance bodies instead of the shareholders.

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Die Einführung der strafrechtlichen Verantwortlichkeit juristischer Personen in Russland

osteuropa recht ◽

10.5771/0030-6444-2019-1-93 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 65 (1) ◽

pp. 93-105

Author(s):

Sergey A. Markuntsov ◽

Martin Paul Waßmer

Keyword(s):

Russian Federation ◽

Criminal Liability ◽

Historical Overview ◽

Pros And Cons ◽

The Russian Federation ◽

Contemporary Practice ◽

Legal Entities

This article examines considerations in the context of the introduction of criminal liability for legal entities - which is currently being discussed in Russia. It provides an historical overview of the discussions in this respect, and further sheds light on the contemporary practice of liability for legal entities in the Russian Federation, outlining the pros and cons of the institution of criminal liability for legal entities. Despite the fact that respective legislative draft laws were intiated in Russia, the country still remains one of the few countries in Europe where criminal liability for legal entities is currently not stipulated by law.

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