"Did you ever expect a corporation to have a conscience, when it has no soul to be damned and no body to be kicked?" So said Lord Thurlow, an 18th-century English lawyer. Today, most legal systems outside America assume that companies act through people. The authorities' usual approach to corporate crime is to pursue those responsible. Americans, on the other hand, think that companies as legal entities can be criminal. That reflects a belief that the culture of a corporation can produce malfeasance. This week, a deadlocked jury was still deliberating the guilt of Andersen, the accounting firm that stands accused by the Justice Department of criminal obstruction after the collapse of Enron last year. The consequences for an accused company of the American approach can be severe. Clients have deserted Andersen in droves, thousands of employees have been sacked, and the firm's international network has crumbled. It is hard to see what future Andersen might have. A retailer, say, might easily survive a criminal probe. For a financial firm, or indeed any other business that operates un-der the scrutiny of regulators, an indictment can be a death warrant. That helps to explain why Merrill Lynch sought a settlement last month with New York state's attorney-general, who accused the firm of misleading investors without ever charging it of a crime.
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