THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR CORPORATE LIABILITY FOR HOMICIDE: THE EXPERIENCE IN NIGERIA AND THE UNITED KINGDOM

In recent times, corporate homicide has become an increasingly global phenomenon. These global incidences make it imperative to have a legal framework for holding corporations liable for deaths either of employees or members of the public that occur as a result of their activities. The challenge however is in applying the traditional criminal law elements of actus reas and mens rea to a corporation, since the criminal law had developed with the natural person in mind. The aim of this paper is to examine the legal framework for corporate liability for homicide sharing the experience in Nigeria and the UK. The paper discusses the application of criminal law elements of actus reas and mens rea to a corporate body in order to justify corporate liability for homicide. It also examines the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 of the UK which is the first legislation on corporate homicide together with the position in Nigeria. The paper finds that the legal framework in Nigeria is inadequate to secure corporate liability for homicide. The UK provisions can thus serve as a useful model in this regard.