Causation

Chain Of Causation

Factual Causation

Intervening Act and Thin Skull Rule

Factual and Legal Causation

Small Contribution

Factual Causation must be proved using the "but for" rule, it must be proved that the unlawful event would not have happened "but for" the defendants actions, (R v White.)

Factual Causation has to be proved that the defendants actions were an operative and substantial and significant cause of the unlawful event.

Legal Causation is the prosecutions final decision on the chain of causation

Legal Causation additionally has to be proved. This means that the defendants involvement must have been more than minimal. The courts have used two different terms to explain this. The defendant must be the "operative and substantial cause" of the unlawful result (R v Smith) and a "significant contribution " to it (R v Cheshire.)

An intervening act can be of 4 types
A) An act of a third party
B) Medical Intervention
C) The Victims own act
D) A natural but unpredictable event
With an intervening act there is no legal cause , the intervening act must be serious and sufficiently separate from the defendants actions.

A bird

Palpably Wrong

Palpably Minor

The Thin Skull Rule - "TAKE YOUR VICTIM AS YOU FIND THEM"
If the victim has a special physical or mental characteristic which makes an injury more serious, then the defendant is liable for the more serious injury

People will Thin Skulls are more likely to be seen as guilty