Scottish Ministers set up an Expert Group in April 2005 to review the law in Scotland on corporate liability for culpable homicide.
The group was set up following an Appeal Court judgement in June 2003 which ruled that a charge of culpable homicide against a company was irrelevant in law as a 'directing mind' could not be established. The Court ruled that it was not possible to "aggregate" the directing mind from the actions of a number of individuals.
Until the Appeal Court judgement the Scottish Executive and Crown Office believed that this area of the law was adequately covered by the Scottish common law offence of Culpable homicide.
The Group's remit was to review the law in Scotland on corporate liability for culpable homicide and to submit a report to the Minister for Justice by the summer of 2005. This would take into account proposals published by the Home Secretary for a new Corporate Manslaughter law for England and Wales.