Economic Crime in Europe

223 Pages·1980·19.371 MB·English

by  L. H. Leigh Ph.D. (eds.)

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