This chapter discusses how the company acts as a legal person. It covers: contractual liability; corporate capacity; agency and authority in corporate contracting; contracts and the execution of documents; pre-incorporation contracts; corporate gifts; tort liability; criminal liability; whether and in what circumstances knowledge should be imputed to a company or other corporate body; and when attribution can be denied by the company.
Chapter
3. Corporate Activity and Legal Liability
Chapter
4. Rules of attribution—corporate acts and liabilities
This chapter considers whose acts are the acts of the company for the purposes of determining the rights and liabilities of the company. The chapter examines corporate liability in contract and in tort including directors’ personal liability in tort. The attribution of liability for criminal offences is considered in detail addressing the common law and the recent statutory reforms. These provide for a senior manager regime and a new offence of failure to prevent fraud. The chapter also considers attribution in the context of a breach of directors’ duties and the availability of an illegality defence.
Chapter
19. Acting for a company: agency and attribution
This chapter deals with the legal relationship of agency that exists between the company and the agent, explaining the process involved in an agent’s authentication and the execution of documents for the company they represent. It considers two ways in which a company may become contractually bound to another person (a ‘contractor’) under the provisions of the Companies Act 2006: through a written contract to which the company’s common seal is affixed, or when someone has made a contract on behalf of the company. It also discusses the company’s capacity to enter into contracts, including the ultra vires rule, and attribution by a court so as to impose criminal liability on a company. A number of court cases relevant to the discussion are cited.
Chapter
4. Rules of attribution—corporate acts and liabilities
This chapter looks at identifying whose acts are the acts of the company for the purposes of determining the rights and liabilities of the company, given that the company is an artificial legal entity. There are several distinct rules of attribution which may assist in this context. The chapter examines corporate liability in contract, corporate liability in tort, and criminal liability of the company. The chapter addresses the debate between the traditional approach to attribution, relying on directing mind and will theory, (especially in criminal matters) and the more purposive approach being adopted in civil matters. Attribution in the case of the wrongdoing director is considered as well as the application of an illegality defence.
Chapter
4. Shareholders as an Organ of the Company
This chapter discusses how the company acts as a legal person. It covers: contractual liability; corporate capacity; agency and authority in corporate contracting; contracts and the execution of documents; pre-incorporation contracts; corporate gifts; tort liability; criminal liability; whether and in what circumstances knowledge should be imputed to a company or other corporate body; and when attribution can be denied by the company.
Chapter
19. Acting for a company: agency and attribution
This chapter deals with the legal relationship of agency that exists between the company and the agent, explaining the process involved in an agent’s authentication and the execution of documents for the company they represent. It considers two ways in which a company may become contractually bound to another person (a ‘contractor’) under the provisions of the Companies Act 2006: through a written contract to which the company’s common seal is affixed, or when someone has made a contract on behalf of the company. It also discusses the company’s capacity to enter into contracts, including the ultra vires rule, and attribution by a court so as to impose criminal liability on a company. A number of court cases relevant to the discussion are cited.
