Directors’ duties under the 2019 Companies Act of Ghana

The scope of directors’ duties forms perhaps the most important part of corporate governance. This paper considers the trajectory of the regulation of directors’ duties under Ghanaian company law from the Companies Act, 1963 (Act 179) to the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992). Using the 2017 to 2019 financial institutions’ insolvencies in Ghana as a backdrop, it considers whether the scope, formulation and structure of directors’ duties within the new legislation is capable of promoting corporately-beneficial director behaviour. It also discusses whether the framework is apt to deal with similar lapses in corporate governance marked by reckless and opportunistic director behaviour. It discovers that Act 992 places a greater reliance on specific rules while retaining the largely principles-based regulatory technique adopted for regulating director conduct under Act 179. The overall tenor of the framework of directors’ duties under the new Act points to a firmer legislative view of the serious consequences of reckless director conduct. The paper concludes that the language of the framework regulating director conduct is capable of promoting corporately beneficially director behaviour and is also apt to deal with the kind of lapses in corporate governance which led to mass financial sector insolvencies in Ghana.     

董事勤勉义务和遵守法律、公司章程的关系——从比较法的角度

中国《公司法》规定的勤勉义务的内容偏向于遵守法律义务,没有考虑主观要件。这种规定存在立法上的疏漏,董事等违反注意义务的行为应当包含玩忽职守的行为。即董事执行公司职务时玩忽职守,给公司造成损失的,应当承担赔偿责任。但董事超过经营范围所导致的结果,如果公司损失,该董事没有过失或故意,则不需要承担损害赔偿责任。     

Two steps forward and ten steps backwards: a retreat from shareholder value primacy,stakeholder theory,creditors and directors duties in the Commonwealth Caribbean

Directors’ duties in the Commonwealth Caribbean (CC) were shaped by English law and shareholder value primacy (SVP). Directors’ must act in the best interest of the solvent company for the benefit of its shareholders generally. No direct duty is owed to creditors at common law, save to consider their interests on insolvency. SVP prominence in the CC has yielded to the acceptance of Canadian corporate law and stakeholder theory. Through a comparative analysis of the law in the UK, Germany and Canada, this paper examines the impact of stakeholder theory on directors’ duties in Barbados and Jamaica.     

Balancing public health and practitioner accountability in cases of medical manslaughter: reconsidering the tests for criminal negligence-related offences in Australia after R v Patel

In 2010 Dr Jayant Patel was convicted of several offences on the basis of criminal negligence. Following the Queensland Court of Appeal's 2011 endorsement of the trial judge's decision, the case provides a timely opportunity to review prosecutions for medical negligence criminal offences throughout Australia and to critically examine the tests in assessing whether the balance has been correctly struck. The author argues that the thresholds required for prosecutions for criminal negligence for medical manslaughter are problematic and unduly onerous, and do not adequately strike the balance between the utilitarian value in health care and patient safety, on the one hand, and practitioner accountability and deterrence, on the other. This article considers reforms to remedy the imbalance, including a reformulation of the Criminal Code (Qld) and common law thresholds, proposals for the enactment of a separate offence of criminally negligent manslaughter and the utilisation of corporate prosecutions for manslaughter liability to broaden accountability in health care and promote patient safety on a systemic level.     

公司破产边缘董事不当激励的法律规制

董事作出商业决策时的激励结构与公司的经营和财务状况具有直接的相关性。当公司具有持续营业能力时,董事的风险偏好是中性的。可是,当公司处于破产边缘时,董事则具有以债权人的利益为代价实施高风险、高收益商业决策的不当激励。许多国家公司法或破产法都提出了相应的法律策略,以约束董事的这种不当激励并保护债权人的利益。我国破产法应要求债务人承担一般性的破产申请义务,在此基础上,进一步规定董事承担在一定期限内提出破产申请的义务,否则就要对债权人因迟延申请破产所受的损失承担赔偿责任。     

《民法通则》规定的民事责任——从物权法到民法典的规定

权利、义务、责任是法律的基石,法律的内容是在权利、义务、责任的基础上展开的,民法也不例外。我国《民法通则》关于民事责任的规定值得重视,物权法和未来的民法典应当继受《民法通则》创立的民事责任制度。未来我国民法典应当借鉴《德国民法典》和旧中国民国时期的民法典,设立物权编和债权编,但是不必规定物权请求权,可将物权请求权转变为侵权责任,规定在民法典的侵权责任编中。将物权请求权转变为侵权责任,不仅不会破坏物权与债权的科学体系,而且会使物权与债权的区分更加明晰,使债与责任的区分更加明晰。     

The Continuing Value of Relief for Directors' Breach of Duty

The nature and scope of relief for directors in breach of their duties did not figure prominently in the Steering Group's fundamental review of company law. Little is proposed beyond removing one of the two pre-conditions for relief laid down in section 727 of the Companies Act 1985; the requirement of reasonableness. This article seeks to subject the relieving discretion to a more radical re-appraisal. Drawing upon the views expressed by its architects together with the current judicial approach adopted towards the provision, it is argued that its underlying rationale would be better met if the test for relief was based solely upon the court's determination of fairness. It will be demonstrated that such a model would better serve to bolster the fundamental tenets of transparency, simplicity and accessibility that underpin the approach of the Government's White Paper towards company law reform while also reinforcing the continuing value of relief.     

模型建构视野下的滥用职权罪——与玩忽职守罪之区别

近年来,刑法学界在涉及滥用职权和玩忽职守两罪的认定时争议颇多,尤其表现在对两罪主观罪过形式及客观方面特征的界定上。实际上,刑法所建构的犯罪识别模型(犯罪构成)虽然来源于生活原型,但由于人为概念系统固有的拟制功能,法律规定往往高于生活事实本身。据此,在犯罪模型上将所有故意性的一般渎职行为统一拟制为滥用职权罪,将所有过失性的一般渎职行为统一拟制为玩忽职守罪,虽然在一定程度上超越于事实原型本身,但却是十分必要和切实可行的。     

论自动驾驶汽车生产者的刑事责任

自动驾驶汽车是人类研发、制造、使用和管理的智能产品,不是犯罪主体或刑事责任主体。在自动驾驶汽车自主控制状态下发生交通事故的,其生产者、使用者和其他人员难以按照我国现有刑法的罪名定罪处罚。除非道路交通安全法和刑法有专门的规定,驾驶位人员不接管汽车或接管后无力改变交通事故结果的,不构成交通肇事罪或其他管理过失犯罪。驾驶位人员的注意义务是阻止自动驾驶汽车自主控制下发生交通事故,其注意义务不应过高。允许的风险、紧急避险理论不能为自动驾驶汽车紧急路况处理算法的生产与应用提供合法、合理的解决方案,生产者遵守算法安全标准仅可以使生产行为合法化。鉴于现行刑法不适应自动驾驶汽车应用的特性,我国应当建立以生产者全程负责为中心的新刑事责任体系,使之在自动驾驶汽车生产和应用两个阶段承担安全管理责任,生产者拒不履行自动驾驶汽车应用安全管理义务且情节严重的,应当承担刑事责任。     

Decriminalisation of abortion performed by qualified health practitioners under the Abortion Law Reform Act 2008 (Vic)

In 2008, the Victorian Parliament enacted the Abortion Law Reform Act 2008 (Vic) and amended the Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) to decriminalise terminations of pregnancy while making it a criminal offence for unqualified persons to carry out such procedures. The reform legislation has imposed a civil regulatory regime on the management of abortions, and has stipulated particular statutory duties of care for registered qualified health care practitioners who have conscientious objections to terminations of pregnancy. The background to, and the structure of, this novel statutory regime is examined, with a focus on conscientious objection clauses and liability in the tort of negligence and the tort of breach of statutory duty.     

The Case for a Rational Reconstruction of Consent in Criminal Law

This article argues for consistency in criminal law and the need for 'rational reconstruction' of the law where necessary to achieve this. It focuses Parliament's failure to respect the need for consistency by passing a statutory definition of consent in the Sexual Offences Act 2003 which appears to apply only to sexual offences. As a result, the law on consent risks being a patchwork of statute and ad hoc case law, without any overarching principle to deal with new situations and different offences. The consequent lack of certainty, accessibility, predictability and fairness is compared to the standards of the European Convention on Human Rights. The statutory definition of consent in the context of the sexual offences is assessed critically as a model which could be used in offences against the person and property offences. The article concludes that until Parliament responds to the need for certainty and consistency by legislating on consent, there can be no rational reconstruction of consent under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.     

Company Liability and Competition Law: Exposure of Company to Risk of Undesirable Behaviour of Directors

In order to protect the objectives of competition policy, companies as undertakings are primarily targeted for the competition law infringements based on the mixed approach of compliance and deterrence theories relying on the view that company directors are incentivised to comply with the rules of competition law by the internal compliance programmes and corporate fines are the consequences of incompliance. This enforcement strategy gives rise to a tension between corporate governance, company law and competition law, as the former two focus on the behaviour of individuals within the corporate structure, while the latter concerns the impact of the company’s behaviour in the market. The question that arises in this tension is whether or to what extent competition law actually considers the way in which the company is run internally while it seeks to promote these primary objectives. This article analyses the deterrent effectiveness of primary enforcement strategy employed in the UK competition law regime and argues that competition law does not tend to localise the source of conduct or particular decisions and does not aim to correct the right wrongdoer. Despite that lack of effectiveness of public enforcement strategy to deter further anti-competitive behaviour has led individual sanctions to be introduced by the Enterprise Act 2002 and the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 in the UK, companies are still primarily targeted by corporate fines even though directors have intentionally breached the rules of competition law and this strategy is unlikely to deter directors from engaging with undesirable behaviour which exposes the company to risk of liability and loss.

     

泰国刑法典关于刑事责任的规定及其借鉴意义

泰国刑法典关于刑事责任的规定,内容涉及故意、过失、错误、责任能力、正当化事由、可以减轻处罚的具体情况等方面,理论基础深厚,归责要素丰富,体系较完整,为正确适用刑罚提供了立法保障,并具有较强的先进性和科学性。借鉴泰国刑法典的立法经验,我国应加紧建立或完善刑事责任的刑法理论,以丰富刑事责任的归责要素;在刑法典中设专章规定刑事责任,以突出刑事责任的独立地位;科学构建我国刑事责任具体的归责要素内容和归责体系。     

美国环境犯罪严格刑事责任的演化与评析

为了确保食品、药物及环境等涉及公共福利领域的安全,美国法院发展并确立严格刑事责任制度,该制度包括公共福利犯罪原则和有责任的公司管理人员原则。确立环境严格刑事责任的目的是确保刑法在保护环境和促进环境法遵守方面的效率。公共福利犯罪原则和有责任的公司管理人员原则减轻了美国起诉部门的证明责任,降低了司法成本,同时提高了犯罪的成本,增强了刑法的威慑力。这体现了美国环境刑事政策的价值取向是社会利益保护优先和效率优先。     

董事注意义务的民事责任研究

在我国,关于董事注意义务的相关规定尚不规范,在公司法相关法律中也没有详细规定,且执法中受到查处的个案也比较少。这种现象与制度本身的不健全、对规定解读的多样化、查处手段单一等直接相关。本文以新公司法的内容和结构为基础,着眼于"董事注意义务的概念界定"、"董事注意义务的内容和判断标准"、"董事注意义务的民事责任"等内容对董事注意义务进行了分析,并根据近年来公司法理论和实务的最新发展对董事注意义务的立法完善问题提出了相关建议。     

Companies Making a Killing—New UK Proposals for Corporate Killing

After more than a decade of major public and media outcries for an effective corporate liability regime in relation to workplace deaths the Home Secretary finally confirmed in May 2003, endorsed by the Cabinet in November 2003, that he will prepare a bill during this Parliament Session introducinga new offence of “Corporate Killing”. The call for such an offence as well as individual offences directed at directors and other senior officers arose out of the failures in the current corporate manslaughter law of the UK to convict any middle or large size companies. Specifically, after public disasters such as the capsizing of the Herald of Free Enterprise in 1987 (193 deaths), the Kings Cross Station fire (37 deaths), the Piper Alpha Oil Platform explosion (167 deaths) and a host of recent rail crashes have led to wide public calls to ensure corporations be held responsible for management failings resulting in fatalities. This paper looks briefly at the current law of corporate manslaughter and its failure to deliver the general public's desire for corporate liability as well as the development and evolution of the new proposals.     

Legislating for corporate criminal liability in Finland: 22-year long debate revisited

The criminal liability of corporations has been the subject of long debates in many countries. This article scrutinizes the 22-year long genesis of corporate criminal liability legislation in Finland. We are interested in unveiling the turns of the law-making process, and in investigating the struggle between various interest groups from a socio-historical perspective. The research data consist of legislative documents such as committee memorandums and written opinions, and the method of inquiry is content analysis. Our study reveals that the core issue of the process became whether jurisprudential principles should be changed in accordance with societal change or whether they are essentially immutable. The Act of Corporate Criminal Liability took effect in 1995, but its coverage was weakened by imposing discretionary sentencing and leaving employment offences outside of its purview. The initial aim and the very justification of the law—to place liability where it belongs—was achieved only in principle. Furthermore, the final outcome of the 1995 law served to actually prevent corporate misconducts from being processed as crimes.     

Dismay for directors in (yet another) baby bottle case

This complex multi-issue, multi-defendant case highlights theliability problems faced by company directors with regard tojoint tortfeasance, in particular the liability of a director.     

论量刑精确制导

我国《刑法》第5条既是刑法的基本原则,也是量刑公正的一般标准,它要求量刑精确制导,最大限度地避免刑罚误差。实现量刑精确制导的根本出路是理论创新和方法创新,这主要表现在三个方面:(1)依法构建量刑标尺,将法定刑空间划分为200个刻度,把其中各种刑罚折算或者虚拟为有期徒刑的月数,明确1个刻度所体现的不同性质刑罚的度量,用以计算刑罚的轻重程度;(2)在正确定罪并找准法定刑的前提下,理性评价犯罪人具有的量刑情节,将其所反映的社会危害程度和人身危险程度用一定数值(积分)表示,借以计算行为人罪责的大小程度;(3)将量刑情节的轻重积分与量刑空间的轻重刻度按"1∶1"的标准相对应,前者在相应量刑空间中的读数,便是量刑公正的最佳适度。     

犯罪本质特征新说 --社会学与刑法学立场分野下的认识

行为具有严重的社会危害性,在社会学意义上无疑是犯罪。但在刑法学意义上讲,却并非如此。刑法上的犯罪,离不开法律的规定。刑事违法性,是立法者将那些具有严重社会危害性的行为纳入犯罪圈的标识,是判定罪与非罪的惟一标准。在个罪成立与否的判定中,既要考虑刑法分则的规定,也要考虑刑法总则规定的犯罪定义,以防止形式的犯罪构成解释论。在刑法学中,犯罪的本质特征应该是立法者选定的行为的严重社会危害性,而非仅为行为的严重社会危害性。