영국의 기업과실치사법에 대한 고찰과 시사점

This article deals with the corporate criminal liability, especially Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 in England. Corporate criminal liability is a concept that developed in the 20th century. Corporations initially were not considered subject to criminal liability because they had “neither a soul to damn nor body to kick.” Corporations could not form the mens rea needed for criminal conduct and, as a legal fiction, they could not be imprisoned. But the number of corporations has expanded dramatically over the last century. In recent years it appears that the public perception of corporations has moved towards the true legal position: that the corporation is a free-standing entity, distinct from the people who manage and control it. With this perception has come an expectation that a corporation might properly be regarded as culpable in criminal law separately from its directors for deaths, breaches of health and safety at work, etc. But corporate criminal liability is not admitted until now in South Korean Penal Code. For this reason, the Sewol ferry owned corporation could not be claimed criminal liability for the Sewol ferry tragedy, in which 304 innocent passengers, including young students on a school trip, lost their lives. The pressure for the imposition of criminal liability has focused specifically on the issue of punishing companies for manslaughter in England. In England, the various disasters, each with large loss of life – in particular the Herald of Free Enterprise ferry disaster and various rail crashes (Southall, Paddington) - have all prompted calls for new legislation fixing the corporation with corporate liability. The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 seeks to meet these demands, and imposes liability for manslaughter on ‘organisations’. And in South Korea, the introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter Act is now under discussion after the Sewol ferry disaster. In this article provides the author readers with an understanding of the comparative approach for corporate manslaughter and refers to significant cases as well as the measures that can admit the corporate criminal liability in reexamining many of the principles of corporate criminal liability. Although some favor this comparative approach and others find deficiencies, it is clear that there will be new arguments arising with regard to the introduction of corporate manslaughter in South Korean Penal Code. It is also possible that the legislature will reconsider how best to deter corporate crime.