ABSTRACT
The mischief of insider dealing was explored earlier.1 To permit insider dealing would enable people close to a company to benefit from the possession of information about the company which results from their proximity but which is not widely known. The restatement of the law governing insider dealing contained in Part V of the Criminal Justice Act 19932 is based, in legislative terms, on a number of important definitions which must be applied in sequence to any consideration of a potential offence. Although the use of complicated definitions is thought by many to be user-inimical,3 requiring the definitions to be consulted at the same time and in order to understand the main operative provisions, thankfully the definitions applicable to the offence of insider dealing are relatively precise. They are contained, mostly, in ss 54-604 of the Criminal Justice Act 1993.
