Individual Responsibility for the Actions of Legal Entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Latvia

Legal entities, according to contemporary legal theory, have general legal and business capacity, just like natural persons. Consequently, legal entities are subject to both criminal and civil liability, whether contractual or tortious in nature. However, it cannot be overlooked that certain actions or omissions of required actions on behalf of and for the account of legal entities are always carried out by natural persons, and they too must be held accountable. The aim of the authors in this paper is to define the circle of responsible persons who perform legal actions on behalf of and for the account of legal entities, as well as to examine the nature and legal regime of their liability. Specifically, the paper seeks to answer the question of how the criminal liability of natural persons for the actions and omissions of legal entities is manifested, and how the issue of civil liability is regulated. In doing so, the authors will also use a comparative legal method, comparing two legal systems: the Latvian legal system, as a member state of the European Union, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, or its entities, the Republic of Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which have candidate status for EU membership.