Result: Factual Causation
Result: Factual Causation
Factual causation
Factual causation is established by applying the 'but for' test. This asks, 'but
for the actions of the defendant, would the result have occurred?' If yes, the
result would have occurred in any event, the defendant is not liable. If the
answer is no, the defendant is liable as it can be said that their action was a
factual cause of the result.
Legal Causation
1. Legal causation requires that the harm must result from a culpable act:
However, this does not apply where the offence is one of strict
liability:
The act of a third party will generally break the chain of causation unless the
action was foreseeable:
Where the act is of the victim, the chain of causation will not be broken
unless the victim's actions are disproportionate or unreasonable in the
circumstances:
Under the thin skull rule, the defendant must take his victim as he finds
him. This means if he has a particularly vulnerable victim he is fully liable for
the consequences to them even if an ordinary person would not have
suffered such severe consequences. For example if D commits a minor
assault on V who has a heart condition and V suffers a heart attack and dies.
D is liable for the death of V even though such an attack would result in no
physical harm to some one without a heart condition.
This rule applies irrespective of whether the defendant was aware of the
condition.
The thin skull rule also applies where the victim has refused medical
treatment which would have saved them:
R v Holland (1841) 2 Mood. & R. 351 Case summary