ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the concept of ‘responsibility’ and its application within the corporate
context. The potential for large corporations to exercise significant powers that impact adversely
upon the welfare of individual citizens and communities as a whole has been recognised within both
political and academic debate since the 1930s.2 It has also become apparent that these powers are
exercised often without the mitigating effect of responsibility. This situation is antithetical to a
liberal democracy and in particular the Labour Government’s ‘third way’ mantra of ‘no rights
without responsibilities’.3 In response, academics and politicians have created the concept of
‘corporate social responsibility’ with the specific intention of holding companies accountable for
the harm that they cause. Although content to explore the question as to why corporations should
be made responsible, much of this literature fails to deal adequately with the question as to
whether companies, as fictional entities, can be attributed with responsibility. This chapter seeks to
answer that question.
