Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

The task of revising France's criminal code began anew in 1978 and was renewed in 1981 under the leadership of Robert Badinter.'0 Badinter was Keeper of the Seals and Minister of Justice under the first socialist government, formed by Pierre Maurois.1 " Mr. Badinter was responsible, in 1981, for the important reform of abolition of capital punishment in France. 2 Badinter sought to "modernize the text [of the criminal code] and to place it under the symbol of human rights." 3 The new code, which emerged from hundreds of hours of debate in seven parliamentary sessions, revises the code of 1810 and establishes significant new concepts of crime definition and penal sanctions. 4 Inter alia, the new code introduces new provisions dealing with crimes against humanity, 5 sexual harassment, 6 and terrorism;" redefines criminal responsibility and selfdefense; 8 creates new penalties for drug trafficking; 9 continues the abolition of capital punishment;' and codifies new sentences of real perpetuity (life imprisonment) and thirty-year penal sentences.2' The Nouveau Code P6nal restructures the entire body of French criminal law into a unified and coherent whole.

To the international business community, however, the most important features of the Nouveau Code P6nal are not the innovations in crime definition and punishment, but the establishment-for the first time in France and, indeed, for the first time in any civil law nation-of comprehensive principles of corporate criminal liability and the creation of a powerful array of corporate criminal sanctions. This essay summarizes the salient features of the new criminal code's treatment of liability of and sanctions against personnes morales-legal entities-and contrasts these new French provisions with the prevailing law on corporate liability and sanctions in other nations.

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