Contract’s up

Your article ‘Contract killing’ (CM, June) argues the new corporate killing offence should impose criminal liability on directors as well as the company. That argument has a flaw. Currently a director who is personally negligent can be convicted under the HSW Act and receive an unlimited fine. If he is grossly negligent, he can be convicted for manslaughter and fined or imprisoned. Neither situation will change.

Corporate killing is to be used to convict companies precisely where no one person is sufficiently at fault to justify convicting them individually. It would therefore be illogical and unfair to create individual criminal liability by working backwards from the company offence. The Law Commission recognised this.