A "Corporation," according to Salmond, "is a group or series of persons which by legal fiction is regarded and treated as itself a person." Due to the following explained reasons it prevailed before the development of the law that a corporation entail no criminal liability: (a) A corporation has no physical body of its own and so it cannot be imprisoned;(b) Since a corporation has no mind of its own, it can never have a criminal intention. Moreover, a corporation acts only through its agent or servant and since there is nothing as vicarious liability under criminal law, no corporation entertain a criminal intent they are indictable;
(c) That the doctrine of ultra vires confines corporate activities within a defined limit. So a corporation can only be held liable for the act authorized by it. since a corporation can never authorize the commission of a crime the question of its criminal liability does not arise.
(c) That the doctrine of ultra vires confines corporate activities within a defined limit. So a corporation can only be held liable for the act authorized by it. since a corporation can never authorize the commission of a crime the question of its criminal liability does not arise.
The view that a limited company cannot be committed for trial on an indictment and, therefore, it cannot also be tried as held in the case of R v Daily Mirror Newspapers Ltd(1922)2 KB 530 became history after the courts appreciating the concept that also a corporation can also be convicted and fined for libel or nuisance and for breach of statutory duty imposed on them. In R v Birmingham Rly.CO.(1840) 2 QB 47 for example the corporation was held liable for having neglected to repair a highway.