Before the CMCHA: The principle of identificationAs established previously, companies are legal persons. As such, they may be criminally responsible for offenses requiring guilty intent under the principle of identification. The principle of identification, or doctrine, is one where the "acts and state of mind" which represent the "directing spirit" of the company will be attributed to the company itself (R v Lennards Carrying Co and Asiatic Petroleum (1915); R v Bolton. Engineering Co v Graham (1957); (R v Andrews Weatherfoil and Others (1972)). the existence of corporate officers who embody the company when they carry out its activities known as “controlling directors”, because their actions and their state of mind are deemed to be those of the company. these directors will be offenses for which they can be prosecuted both as individuals, but also as a company due to their actions. There have been five main cases of corporate manslaughter brought before them. the CMCHA, and only one of them resulted in a successful prosecution. This was a direct consequence of Peter Kite – owner of OLL Limited – being directly responsible. from the activity center where four teenagers died in the Lyme Bay boating tragedy in 1993. Perhaps the most famous manslaughter case came to trial in the late 1980s, when the Herald of Free Enterprise – a car ferry owned by European Ferries – capsized in 1987 off the Belgian coast. This resulted in the loss of 193 lives. The reason for a failed conviction was because there was no "controlling mind" to whom the failure could be solely attributed...... middle of paper .... .. the attribution of culpability to limited liability companies". Cambridge Law Journal 55 (3): 515. Slapper, Gary (1993). Corporate manslaughter: examining the determinants of prosecution policy. Social Studies and Legal, 2 (4), pp. 423-443. Wells, C. (1993). “Corporations: culture, risk and criminal liability”. ] QB 796, CADPP v. P & O European Ferries (Dover) Ltd. (1991) 93 App. R. 72R v. HM Coroner for East Kent (1989) 1039 App. B. & Braithwaite, J. (1994). Corporations, Crime and Accountability. London: Cambridge University Press. Matthews, R. (2008) Blackstone's Guide to the Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act 2007. Oxford: Oxford. University Press.