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Criminal Case (Tel Aviv) 4368-05-16 State of Israel v. Siemens Israel Ltd. - part 32

July 3, 2017
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Kremnitzer and Ghanaim,  the responsibility of the corporation, insist on this (at p. 69 of their article):

"The criminal liability, including the guilt, of the corporation is privileged and not independent...Although the corporation is an independent legal entity and carries rights and duties, it is not a psychological personality.  The corporation cannot act on its own and cannot formulate any thought, since the psychological desire is created by human beings.  The entire role of the realist theory is to grant the corporation legal capacity and to determine that the central people in the corporation, such as the organs, act on its behalf.   The mistake in the strict application of the realistic theory lies in the lack of distinction between the realism of the corporation and its competence.  The realism of the association is the result of the association of people...The realism of the association is a fact.  On the other hand, its legal capacity, i.e.,  the legal personality of the association is only a product of the law and is contingent on the fact of the association's existence.....Despite the fact that the corporation is an independent legal entity that is separate from the members who are members of it, and the corporation bears rights and duties, the corporation is not a psychological entity, cannot act on its own, and cannot formulate a thought.  The corporation is a realistic body,  a purely legal personality and not a psychological personality.  The main people in the corporation, especially the organs, act on behalf of the corporation.  Therefore, this is an attribution of acts and guilt on the part of the corporation."

In other words, we are dealing with the attribution of the thought and behavior of the organ to the corporation.  Moreover, the theory of organs does not create an identity between the organ and the corporation for all intents and purposes.

The theory of organs as a basis for imposing criminal liability on a corporation raises problems when it is not possible to locate the organ whose actions can be attributed to the company.  In light of these difficulties, it is proposed, in England, to change the basis for imposing criminal liability on corporations (which is currently based on the theory of organs) due to the concern that companies,  deliberately, will build such a corporate structure that it will be very difficult to locate the organ that committed the offense (see Call for Proposals on this Matter:

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