State v. St. Paul Fire And Marine Insurance Co.5/26/2000
ship, firm, association, corporation, or other legal entity." In § 13A-8-23, Ala. Code 1975, which regulates acts making gas, electricity, or water available unlawfully, the Legislature specifically defines a "person" to include "a corporation, firm, company, or association." In § 13A-9- 70(3), Ala. Code 1975, which defines various "charitable fraud" offenses, see §§ 13A-9-71 through 13A-9-76, Ala. Code 1975, the Legislature defines a "person" as " ny individual, organization, group, association, partnership, corporation, trust, or any combination of them." In § 13A-11-70(3), Ala. Code 1975, the Legislature's definition of a "person," for purposes of offenses relating to pistols, see §§ 13A-11-71 through 13A-11-84, Ala. Code 1975, includes "any firm, partnership, association, or corporation." Finally, in § 13A-14-3, Ala. Code 1975 (limiting the duration of marathon dance contests, walkathons, or similar endurance contests), the Legislature specifically includes within the purview of that statute "any person, firm, association or corporation."
The absence of a general provision extending the definition of a "person" in § 13A-1-2(6), Ala. Code 1975, to all offenses in the Criminal Code, combined with the presence of several specific provisions throughout the Code expressly including corporations in the definition of a "person" for certain individual crimes, leads us to conclude that the term "where appropriate" in § 13A-1-2(6), Ala. Code 1975, limits the imposition of corporate criminal liability solely to those subsections of the Criminal Code in which the Legislature has expressly provided for corporate criminal liability, such as those listed above. The Legislature did not expressly state that corporations could be held liable for the various perjury offenses; therefore, there is no corporate criminal liability for perjury. The trial court did not err in dismissing the indictment against St. Paul.
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
McMillan, Cobb, Baschab, and Fry, JJ., concur.
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