In recent years there have been a number of well publicised catastrophes, such as the fire and explosion on the offshore installation, Piper Alpha, on 6 July 1988, causing 165 deaths; the capsizing of the car ferry, Herald of Free Enterprise, at Zeebrugge, causing 192 deaths; the sinking of the Marchioness pleasure boat on the Thames in 1989, killing 51 people; the rail collision at Clapham in 1987, causing 34 deaths; and the fire at King’s Cross Underground station in 1987, in which 31 people lost their lives. Most recently, in October 1999, there was another catastrophic rail crash, with a death toll of 30. This time, near to Paddington station at Ladbroke Grove. With the exception of Piper Alpha, all the above catastrophes involved transportation of members of the public. Possibly it is the fact that members of the general public have been killed that has caused a groundswell of public opinion that the law of homicide should be invoked against those who, while conducting their businesses for profit, operate in such a way as to lead to loss of life. In practice any criminal charge would have to be for manslaughter, because the alleged offenders would certainly lack the ‘malice aforethought’ which is a necessary ingredient of the offence of murder. Within the law of manslaughter, the offence would be of committing ‘involuntary manslaughter’, since the offenders would not have had the intention to bring about death. There are two reasons why manslaughter has not proved a useful tool to secure the sort of convictions for which there now appears to be a popular demand. The first is that the law of involuntary manslaughter is complex and far from clear; the second is that, when accidents have occurred as a result of a breakdown in the operation of a complex organisation it is usually unclear whether there is any one person to whom criminal responsibility can be attached. In the civil compensation law and under regulatory offences, liability is normally imposed upon the ‘employer’ but, in the general criminal law, there are difficulties in doing this because the employer is normally a corporate body, lacking a ‘mind’ capable of the ‘mens rea’ which the common law has always considered a necessary pre-requisite of criminal liability. These problems are so profound that the Law Commission, a body set up in the 1960s for the purpose of promoting the reform of the law, has noted:

doi:10.4324/9781843140504-131

Chapter

In recent years there have been a number of well publicised catastrophes, such as the fire and explosion on the offshore installation, Piper Alpha, on 6 July 1988, causing 165 deaths; the capsizing of the car ferry, Herald of Free Enterprise, at Zeebrugge, causing 192 deaths; the sinking of the Marchioness pleasure boat on the Thames in 1989, killing 51 people; the rail collision at Clapham in 1987, causing 34 deaths; and the fire at King’s Cross Underground station in 1987, in which 31 people lost their lives. Most recently, in October 1999, there was another catastrophic rail crash, with a death toll of 30. This time, near to Paddington station at Ladbroke Grove. With the exception of Piper Alpha, all the above catastrophes involved transportation of members of the public. Possibly it is the fact that members of the general public have been killed that has caused a groundswell of public opinion that the law of homicide should be invoked against those who, while conducting their businesses for profit, operate in such a way as to lead to loss of life. In practice any criminal charge would have to be for manslaughter, because the alleged offenders would certainly lack the ‘malice aforethought’ which is a necessary ingredient of the offence of murder. Within the law of manslaughter, the offence would be of committing ‘involuntary manslaughter’, since the offenders would not have had the intention to bring about death. There are two reasons why manslaughter has not proved a useful tool to secure the sort of convictions for which there now appears to be a popular demand. The first is that the law of involuntary manslaughter is complex and far from clear; the second is that, when accidents have occurred as a result of a breakdown in the operation of a complex organisation it is usually unclear whether there is any one person to whom criminal responsibility can be attached. In the civil compensation law and under regulatory offences, liability is normally imposed upon the ‘employer’ but, in the general criminal law, there are difficulties in doing this because the employer is normally a corporate body, lacking a ‘mind’ capable of the ‘mens rea’ which the common law has always considered a necessary pre-requisite of criminal liability. These problems are so profound that the Law Commission, a body set up in the 1960s for the purpose of promoting the reform of the law, has noted:

Chapter

In recent years there have been a number of well publicised catastrophes, such as the fire and explosion on the offshore installation, Piper Alpha, on 6 July 1988, causing 165 deaths; the capsizing of the car ferry, Herald of Free Enterprise, at Zeebrugge, causing 192 deaths; the sinking of the Marchioness pleasure boat on the Thames in 1989, killing 51 people; the rail collision at Clapham in 1987, causing 34 deaths; and the fire at King’s Cross Underground station in 1987, in which 31 people lost their lives. Most recently, in October 1999, there was another catastrophic rail crash, with a death toll of 30. This time, near to Paddington station at Ladbroke Grove. With the exception of Piper Alpha, all the above catastrophes involved transportation of members of the public. Possibly it is the fact that members of the general public have been killed that has caused a groundswell of public opinion that the law of homicide should be invoked against those who, while conducting their businesses for profit, operate in such a way as to lead to loss of life. In practice any criminal charge would have to be for manslaughter, because the alleged offenders would certainly lack the ‘malice aforethought’ which is a necessary ingredient of the offence of murder. Within the law of manslaughter, the offence would be of committing ‘involuntary manslaughter’, since the offenders would not have had the intention to bring about death. There are two reasons why manslaughter has not proved a useful tool to secure the sort of convictions for which there now appears to be a popular demand. The first is that the law of involuntary manslaughter is complex and far from clear; the second is that, when accidents have occurred as a result of a breakdown in the operation of a complex organisation it is usually unclear whether there is any one person to whom criminal responsibility can be attached. In the civil compensation law and under regulatory offences, liability is normally imposed upon the ‘employer’ but, in the general criminal law, there are difficulties in doing this because the employer is normally a corporate body, lacking a ‘mind’ capable of the ‘mens rea’ which the common law has always considered a necessary pre-requisite of criminal liability. These problems are so profound that the Law Commission, a body set up in the 1960s for the purpose of promoting the reform of the law, has noted:

DOI link for In recent years there have been a number of well publicised catastrophes, such as the fire and explosion on the offshore installation, Piper Alpha, on 6 July 1988, causing 165 deaths; the capsizing of the car ferry, Herald of Free Enterprise, at Zeebrugge, causing 192 deaths; the sinking of the Marchioness pleasure boat on the Thames in 1989, killing 51 people; the rail collision at Clapham in 1987, causing 34 deaths; and the fire at King’s Cross Underground station in 1987, in which 31 people lost their lives. Most recently, in October 1999, there was another catastrophic rail crash, with a death toll of 30. This time, near to Paddington station at Ladbroke Grove. With the exception of Piper Alpha, all the above catastrophes involved transportation of members of the public. Possibly it is the fact that members of the general public have been killed that has caused a groundswell of public opinion that the law of homicide should be invoked against those who, while conducting their businesses for profit, operate in such a way as to lead to loss of life. In practice any criminal charge would have to be for manslaughter, because the alleged offenders would certainly lack the ‘malice aforethought’ which is a necessary ingredient of the offence of murder. Within the law of manslaughter, the offence would be of committing ‘involuntary manslaughter’, since the offenders would not have had the intention to bring about death. There are two reasons why manslaughter has not proved a useful tool to secure the sort of convictions for which there now appears to be a popular demand. The first is that the law of involuntary manslaughter is complex and far from clear; the second is that, when accidents have occurred as a result of a breakdown in the operation of a complex organisation it is usually unclear whether there is any one person to whom criminal responsibility can be attached. In the civil compensation law and under regulatory offences, liability is normally imposed upon the ‘employer’ but, in the general criminal law, there are difficulties in doing this because the employer is normally a corporate body, lacking a ‘mind’ capable of the ‘mens rea’ which the common law has always considered a necessary pre-requisite of criminal liability. These problems are so profound that the Law Commission, a body set up in the 1960s for the purpose of promoting the reform of the law, has noted:

In recent years there have been a number of well publicised catastrophes, such as the fire and explosion on the offshore installation, Piper Alpha, on 6 July 1988, causing 165 deaths; the capsizing of the car ferry, Herald of Free Enterprise, at Zeebrugge, causing 192 deaths; the sinking of the Marchioness pleasure boat on the Thames in 1989, killing 51 people; the rail collision at Clapham in 1987, causing 34 deaths; and the fire at King’s Cross Underground station in 1987, in which 31 people lost their lives. Most recently, in October 1999, there was another catastrophic rail crash, with a death toll of 30. This time, near to Paddington station at Ladbroke Grove. With the exception of Piper Alpha, all the above catastrophes involved transportation of members of the public. Possibly it is the fact that members of the general public have been killed that has caused a groundswell of public opinion that the law of homicide should be invoked against those who, while conducting their businesses for profit, operate in such a way as to lead to loss of life. In practice any criminal charge would have to be for manslaughter, because the alleged offenders would certainly lack the ‘malice aforethought’ which is a necessary ingredient of the offence of murder. Within the law of manslaughter, the offence would be of committing ‘involuntary manslaughter’, since the offenders would not have had the intention to bring about death. There are two reasons why manslaughter has not proved a useful tool to secure the sort of convictions for which there now appears to be a popular demand. The first is that the law of involuntary manslaughter is complex and far from clear; the second is that, when accidents have occurred as a result of a breakdown in the operation of a complex organisation it is usually unclear whether there is any one person to whom criminal responsibility can be attached. In the civil compensation law and under regulatory offences, liability is normally imposed upon the ‘employer’ but, in the general criminal law, there are difficulties in doing this because the employer is normally a corporate body, lacking a ‘mind’ capable of the ‘mens rea’ which the common law has always considered a necessary pre-requisite of criminal liability. These problems are so profound that the Law Commission, a body set up in the 1960s for the purpose of promoting the reform of the law, has noted:

ABSTRACT

In recent years there have been a number of well publicised catastrophes, such as the fire and explosion on the offshore installation, Piper Alpha, on 6 July 1988, causing 165 deaths; the capsizing of the car ferry, Herald of Free Enterprise, at Zeebrugge, causing 192 deaths; the sinking of the Marchioness pleasure boat on the Thames in 1989, killing 51 people; the rail collision at Clapham in 1987, causing 34 deaths; and the fire at King’s Cross Underground station in 1987, in which 31 people lost their lives. Most recently, in October 1999, there was another catastrophic rail crash, with a death toll of 30. This time, near to Paddington station at Ladbroke Grove.