Keenan and Riches’BUSINESS LAW

Chapter 12Criminal liability in business

(i) John, an assistant in the florist’s section,

picks some wild roses growing on a nearby

common and sells them in the florist’s

section and keeps the proceeds of sale.

(ii) Maisy, a shelfstacker, finds a handbag in a

recently used but otherwise empty store

trolley. Maisy keeps the handbag and the

money it contains.

(iii) Ernie takes some items of food from the

shelves and places them in his trolley

intending to pay at the checkout. He also

takes three tins of meat paste and puts them

in his pocket: he does not intend to pay for

the meat paste. The store manageress sees

what Ernie has done and detains him before

he reaches the checkout.

(b)John is a director of Derwent plc, a listed

company. The board of Derwent received at

its last meeting a report by Joe, the Finance

Director of Derwent, that Derwent’s profits

would be up by 30 per cent and that this would

appear in the press report on the annual

accounts in two weeks’ time. Next day John

told Sid, his golfing companion, that Derwent’s

profits would be up by 30 per cent, and Sid

bought shares in Derwent. On the same day,

Sid said to his daughter Kylie, a hair stylist with

her own salon, that she ‘really ought to have

bought shares in Derwent because they seem

to be a good thing’. Kylie also bought shares

in Derwent. When the results were announced,

the shares in Derwent increased in price by

10 pence per share.

Explain to John, Sid and Kylie the possible results

in legal terms of their activities in regard to

Derwent’s shares.

379

Visit http://www.mylawchamber.co.uk/riches

to access selected answers to self-test questions in the

book to check how much you understand in this chapter.

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.ukThis is the site of
the Consumer Gateway – a one-stop on-line advice
service funded by the Office of Fair Trading and
delivered in partnership with Local Authority Trading
Standards Services.

http://www.oft.gov.ukThe Office of Fair Trading
provides a range of information for consumers about
their rights.

http://www.foodstandards.gov.ukThe Food Standards
Agency is responsible for protecting consumers through
effective enforcement of food safety legislation.

http://www.lawcom.gov.ukThe Law Commission
provides a valuable website for development in the law of
fraud: the Commission is quite active in this area.

http://www.sec.govThe US Securities and Exchange

Commission is a useful source for multinational

developments in fraud control for UK and other companies

listed in the United States.

http://www.berr.gov.ukThe Department for Business,

Enterprise & Regulatory Reform has a significant role in

the development of legislation to control fraud including

discussion documents and reports.

http://www.sfo.gov.uk(the Serious Fraud Office).

http://www.oft.gov.uk(the Office of Fair Trading).

http://www.fsa.gov.uk(the Financial Services Authority).

These are the websites for the three major players in the

control of corporate and business fraud generally.

Website references