Standard Chartered Bank Case: A Jurisprudential Analysis

Abstract

The Standard Chartered Case (AIR 2005 SC 2622), decided by the Indian Supreme Court, adds a new chapter to the evolution of law as to criminal liability of a corporate body in India, starting from the non liability of corporations for crimes committed, to the non liability due to the physical impossibility of imposing the punishment and the dilemma in cases where the punishment meted out is both imprisonment and fine. The judgment is important for it sheds light upon the statutory construction of criminal statutes, departing from the traditional principle of strict interpretation and establishing the applicability of the principle of purposive interpretation. J. Santosh Hegde & J. B.N. Srikrishna of the Indian Supreme Court, in dissenting, raise valid concerns about the consequences of such judicial creativity and infringing the powers entrusted to the legislature under the constitutional scheme of separation of powers.

Keywords: corporate criminal liablity, heydon's rule, judicial overreach, separation of powers, standard chartered, India, Supreme Court

JEL Classification: K14, K42