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Supreme Court confirms that companies may bring private prosecutions

Date:

03rd August 2010

Team:

Regulatory & Disciplinary, Civil Fraud, Crime,

Supreme Court confirms that companies may bring private prosecutions.

In the case R v Rollins [2010] UKSC 39 the Supreme Court was asked to rule whether the Financial Services Authority (FSA) could institute proceedings outside of its powers under the Financial Services Act and the offences contained therein. Sir John Dyson SCJ, giving the judgement of the Court stated,

 “Nothing in section 6(1)  of the Prosecution of Offences Act excludes bodies corporate from the definition of “any person”. A corporation may therefore bring a prosecution provided that it is permitted to do so by the instrument that gives it the power to act. As Lord Mance noted in Jones v Whalley [2007] 1 AC 67 at para 38, private prosecutions “may be initiated by private bodies such as high street stores, by charities such as NSPCC and RSPCA, or by private individuals … ”. In Broadmoor Special Health Authority v Robinson [2000] QB 775 at para 25, Lord Woolf MR said:

“The statutes only rarely provide expressly that a particular public body may institute proceedings in protection of specific public interests. It is usually a matter of implication. If a public body is given responsibility for performing public functions in a particular area of activity, then usually it will be implicit that it is entitled to bring proceedings seeking the assistance of the courts in protecting its special interests in the performance of those functions.” (ibid, para 9)

The effect of the judgement, which confirms the view of the Court of Appeal, is that a limited company (whether private of public) can bring a private prosecution, provided that it is permitted to do so by the instrument that gave it the power to act. (see Jones v Whalley [2006] UKHL 41, [2007] 1 A.C. 63, Broadmoor Special Hospital Authority v R [2000] Q.B. 775 and R. (on the application of Hunt) v Criminal Cases Review Commission [2001] Q.B. 1108.)

In order for a company, such as an insurer, to commence a prosecution it will be able to simply instruct their solicitors to seek a summons from the Magistrates Court and the relevant offender can now be brought to book for their fraudulent or other criminal activities, in situations where the police refuse to act.

David S Dixon

For further details of private prosecutions please contact our specialist team, by contacting our clerks Yvonne Crosbie, Zoe Bellwood or Stuart Young.