Aansprakelijkheid van leidinggevenden naar privaatrechtelijke, strafrechtelijke en bestuursrechtelijke maatstaven

Legal entities play an important role in our society. Many social and economic activities are carried out by organizations which are legal entities, generally under public or private law. The existence of such legal entities raises several questions, such as who can be held responsible or liable if the legal entity's activities violate a legal standard. In principle the legal entity is liable for the consequences of its actions. However, a legal entity is itself incapable of physical action; its actions can always be traced back to those of human beings. This thesis examines the circumstances in which the managers of legal entities under private and public law can be held liable if the legal entity's activities are punishable, cause loss to a third party and/or contravene administrative standards. After all, managers are responsible for the legal entity's affairs. Executives may cause the violation of legal standards by their own actions, but they may also be accused of having failed to provide adequate supervision or having failed to prevent or stop others (subordinates or fellow managers) acting in such a way that legal standards were violated. Moreover, the executive's formal and/or actual position of power may mean that he or she must ensure that the violation is reversed or that the legal entity complies with the legal standard. In such cases the executive's liability can be regarded as secondary liability, since it is the legal entity itself which has broken the law; in other words, the legal entity has the primary liability.