建構公司刑事責任之繼受法制──美國法與我國案例之啟示

Construction the Law of Corporate Successor Criminal Liability: An Inspiration of U.S. Practice and Local Case of Taiwan

系所名稱：科技法律研究所 學位別：碩士 畢業學年：109年 指導教授：林志潔、張文貞 現代社會下，許多犯罪係由公司所為。若公司犯罪後，透過企業併購（例如以資產收購之方式，將主要資產賣予其他公司），企圖脫免責任，將導致司法機關於究責時發生困難。也因此引發以下之爭議：「若前手公司（企業併購中的目標公司）先前曾經從事犯罪行為，因而必須負擔刑事責任，則於企業併購後，刑事責任是否將由後手公司（企業併購中的收購公司）繼受？」就此，我國欠缺公司刑事責任繼受之相關規定，法制上存有潛在之漏洞，可能使有心人士得以藉此規避公司犯罪後之刑事責任。本文以為，我國應儘速建構公司刑事責任繼受之法制，且立法時或可參考美國法，因為美國對於前述之爭議（企業併購後，後手公司是否必須繼受前手公司之法律責任），訂有相關之成文法規定，或是透過法院判決之累積而建立相關之普通法原則。我國曾有部分文獻對美國法制進行介紹，惟學者目前討論之範圍侷限於「民事責任」、「行政責任（尤其CERCLA之環境整治責任）」，而尚未擴及至「刑事責任」。故本文將參考美國法，試圖建構出一套適宜於我國操作之公司刑事責任繼受法制，期望能填補我國法制上之漏洞，完善我國刑事法對公司究責之體系。本文建構法制時，採取之方式如下：針對不同之企業併購類型，設計專屬之繼受法制。另外，本文將導入美國學者提出之「繼受者同一性理論」，該理論強調刑法「特別預防」之面向。因此，企業併購後，若後手公司成功地辨識出前手公司先前犯罪之原因，並採取適當之改善措施，降低未來再犯之可能，將可獲得刑責之減免。

In modern society, many crimes are committed by corporations. Many corporations attempt to circumvent the criminal regulations through mergers and acquisitions afterwards. Consequently, it raises a controversial issue about whether the corporate successor should be liable for the corporate predecessor, which has previously been subject to criminal sanctions for the misconduct, in a merger or an acquisition. To address the issue, U.S. has conducted two ways: enacting statutes and establishing common law principles. Compared to the U.S., there is a potential loophole in Taiwan legal system due to the lack of corporate successor criminal liability. Therefore, I suggest Taiwanese legislature refer to the U.S. legal system and introduce the corporate successor criminal liability into Taiwan’s statute as soon as possible. In previous work, scholars usually focused only on civil liability and administrative liability, instead of criminal liability, when discussing the related problem. This paper explores the ways in which American law deals with such situation, and tries to draw on the law of corporate successor criminal liabilityin Taiwan legal system to attribute the responsibility of corporations.In addition, this paper introduces the Successor Identity Approach, whichemphasizing special deterrenceprinciplein the field of criminal law, proposed by American scholars. This means that if successors successfully identify the reasons for predecessors’criminal conduct, apply appropriate improvements, and decrease the possibility of recidivism in the future, they will be able tomitigate the sentencingor even exempt from the liability.