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Economic Crime in Europe PDF

223 Pages·1980·19.371 MB·English
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ECONOMIC CRIME IN EUROPE Also by L. H. Leigh THE CRIMINAL LIABILITY OF CORPORATIONS IN ENGLISH LAW INTRODUCTION TO COMPANY LAW (with J. F. Northey and D. Goldberg) POLICE POWERS IN ENGLAND AND WALES ECONOMIC CRIME IN EUROPE Edited by L. H. Leigh, Ph.D. Reader in Law in the University of London (The London School of Economics and Political Science) Palgrave Macmillan Editorial matter, introduction and chapters 2 and 6 CC' L. H. Leigh 1980 chapters I, 3, 4 and 5 © The Macmillan Press Ltd 1980 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1980 978-0-333-24840-9 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission First published 1980 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Companies and representatives throughout the world British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Conference on Economic Crime, 2nd, London School of Economics and Political Science, 1977 Economic crime in Europe 1. White collar crimes - Europe - Congresses I. Title II. Leigh, Leonard Herschel 364.1 HV6635 ISBN 978-1-349-04177-0 ISBN 978-1-349-04175-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-04175-6 Contents List of Abbreviations vi Notes on the Contributors vii Introduction ix 2 Business Crime in Spain Carlos Vi/ados Jene 2 2 Aspects of the Control of Economic Crime in the United Kingdom L. H. Leigh 15 3 Antitrust Law and Criminal Law Policy in Western Europe K. Tiedemann 39 4 The Sentencing of Long-firm Frauds M. Levi 57 5 White-collar Crime and the EEC Mireille Delmas-Marty 78 6 Crimes in Bankruptcy L. H. Leigh with the assistance of Susannah Brown 106 Index 209 v List of Abbreviations A.e. Appeal Cases All E.R. All England Law Reports A.L.R. Australian Law Reports L.R. e.e.R. Law Reports, Crown Cases Reserved Ch. Law Reports, Chancery Ch. D. Law Reports, Chancery Division Cmnd. Command Paper Crim. L.R. Criminal Law Review Cr. App R. Criminal Appeal Reports D.L.R. Dominion Law Reports (Canada) H.e. House of Commons H.e. Deb. House of Commons Debates H.K.L.R. Hong Kong Law Reports H.L. House of Lords I.L.T. Irish Law Times J.e. Justiciary Cases J.P. Justice of the Peace Reports Leach Leach's Reports L.J. Bcy Law Journal Reports, Bankruptcy L.R. Law Reports (but usually in conjunction with e.e.R. as to which see above) L.T. (NS) Law Times Reports, New Series Morr. Morrison's Reports M.R. Master of the Rolls (it is usual to show this in the text in abbr.) Q.B. Queen's Bench Q.B.D. Queen's Bench Division Reg. Regina R.T.R. Road Traffic Reports S.R. &0. Statutory Rules and Orders W.L.R. Weekly Law Reports VI Notes on the Contributors SUSANNAH BROWN is a statistical consultant at The London School of Economics and Political Science. PROFESSOR MIREILLE DELMAS-MARTY is Professor of Law in the University of Paris-Sud and Director of the Institute of Criminology at the University of Lille I I. She is the scientific expert for the sub-committee XXXVIII (economic crimes) of the Council of Europe and author of Le Droit penal des af/aires (\ 973). DR LEONARD H. LEIGH is Reader in Law at the University of London (London School of Economics and Political Science). He is the author of The Criminal Liability of Corporations in English Law (\969) and Police Powers in England and Wales (1975). DR MICHAEL LEVI is lecturer in criminology, University College, Cardiff. PROFESSOR KLAUS TIEDEMANN is Professor of Penal Law, Procedure and Criminology and Director of the Institute of Criminology in the University of Freiburg (West Germany). He is the author of several books on economic crime. PROFESSOR CARLOS VILADAs JENE is Assistant Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Barcelona. VII Introduction This volume contains the text of papers delivered at the Second Annual Conference on Economic Crime, held at the London School of Economics and Political Science on 17 December 1977, together with certain other contributions relating to those delivered on that occasion. A brief word of explanation to the reader is required. The subject of economic crime, or 'business crime', or 'white-collar crime'. is one of great contemporary importance. The Council of Europe in 1976 made it the subject of the Twelfth Conference of Directors of Criminological Research Institutes. Thereafter, the rapporteurs, under I the particular stimulus of Professor Delmas-Marty, Director of the Institute of Criminology of the University of Lille. determined to carry on the work thus begun, and to meet at annual intervals to plan international research and co-operation among themselves and others and to give an account of research currently in progress. The first such meeting was held in Lille in December 1976, the second in London. Three institutions have been closely associated with the work: the University of Lille, the London School of Economics and Political Science. and the Centre Internationale de Criminologie Comparee of the University of Montreal. But what is the subject? The term 'economic crime' is relatively unfamiliar to an English-speaking audience raised on the more evoc ative phrase, 'white-collar crime', made popular by the late Professor E. H. Sutherland.2 It is, however, a term well known on the mainland of Europe, as are several nearly synonymous usages, such as la criminalite d'ajfaires, Ie droit penal d'affaires and Karaliersdelik t. 3 But the term 'economic crime' cannot be said to bear an agreed or close definition. 'White-collar crime', on the other hand, bears the definition suggested by Professor Sutherland: that is. it is crime taken in rather an extended sense. to include conduct made unlawful and punished by adminis trative as well as by criminal jurisdictions; the crime must have been committed by a respectable person of a higher social class; and it must have been directly related to his professional activities. Why, therefore, not simply keep to this term? IX x Introduction Here it is that a series of difficulties began to emerge. These, difficulties for the most part of definition and, as Vilhelm Aubert noted long ago, essentially sterile, inhibited empirical research for some time.4 I do not, in saying this, wish to deny the importance of much of the thought and the concern underlying the definitional debate, though it is a pity that so much attention was devoted to definitional matters. We must recognise that the debate over definitions reflected and reflects on the one hand a desire not to abandon research into the activities of persons enjoying an elevated socia-economic position, and on the other a desire to stress that certain business crimes are in fact committed by persons of humble status, such as workers in the building industry who understate their income. These very understandable and no doubt laudable foci of attention were, however, brought to bear on the definitional debate with adverse consequences for research. It is as though, once Sutherland had proposed his definition, a field called 'white-collar crime' thereafter existed, definable given a modicum of perception and goodwill, and to be defined before empirical research could be undertaken. Definition in a sense has become the ventriloquist's dummy; the definitions advanced by various scholars have in large measure reflected what they wish to study, against what they evidently feel as an obligation to define a subject which could thus be given an exclusive content, universally accepted. This, if correct, describes a process akin to that of the search for the Holy Grail. Some scholars wish to study both criminal and unethical behaviour; for them, a definition, whether of white-collar crime or of economic crime, that is restricted to conduct which constitutes a substantive crime is insufficiently inclusive. Others object that to include both types of conduct in the definition blurs the issue and inhibits researchers from assessing the effect of the criminal proscription, though it is difficult to see why this should be so. Scholars wish to look at forms S of criminal conduct engaged in across social strata; for them a study which is restricted to crimes of the rich by definition lacks an important dimension. Some scholars wish to study organised crime, or crime of a premeditated or systematic character; others wish to look at the problems which arise when a business created for an honest purpose is turned to a criminal one. In these circumstances an all-embracing b definition of white-collar crime hardly seems possible. A definition ifit is to succeed as a definition must either be reductive or fail. And the definition chosen will, if it follows this pattern, probably better reflect the research predilictions of its proponent than any unity of subject

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