Causation

What crimes need causation?

Result crimes need causation

Act + Specific result → Actus reus of result crime

E.g. murder/manslaughter need death

Factual causation

• White

• Benge

• Dyson

Legal causation

• Smith

• Hughes

• Wallace - Mohammed - Dalloway, Hughes

Operative → Chain of causation

Novus actus interveniens

a) Omissions

b) Naturally occurring events

c) Acts of the victim

d) Acts of 3rd party

Omissions

General rule

• Blaue

• Holland

Naturally occurring events

• Bush

• Hart (NZ case)

Acts of the victim

CN will not break the chain

• Dear

• Blaue

• Holland

Free, voluntary, and informed acts of the victim can break the chain

• Kennedy c.f. Evans

Clarity post Kennedy - Rebelo, Bah, Field

Foreseeable acts of the victim cannot break the chain

• Wallace

• Williams and Davies

Acts of 3rd party

General rule

• Benge

Reasonable 3rd party

• Lord Goff, Pagett

Status of 3rd party

• Cheshire

• Jordan

Free, voluntary, and informed 3rd party

• Rafferty

• Empress cars

Unforeseeable acts of 3rd party

• Girdler

Essay

Why do we need law relating to questions of causation? Should consequences matter? 

Causation does matter – Punishing morally blameworthy behavior (Moore)  

Counter – Does not matter because it is simply ‘luck’ – Only choices and bodily movements matter – (Alexander, Kessler & Morse) 

Why causation rules? 

• Holding individuals accountable for their wrongdoing – identifying the author of the wrongdoing  

• Principled approach to linking conduct to outcomes (?) 

Real life example – Alec Baldwin’s Rust trial 

X given ammunition with real bullets – Someone ended up being shot – Because of mix of real and dummy guns – No question of causation, X is the cause BUT is he accountable? – Courts take into consideration this moral blameworthiness. 

Is it proper? Mixing actus reas and mens rea – Implications for rule of law. 

BUT also helps in analysing complex cases. 

This skull rule  

In favour	Against
What about the interests of and fairness to the victim?  Prohibit bad conduct	Unfair to hold someone accountable for an unforeseeable outcome – Fair labelling
Foreseeability of outcome is a question of MR not causation (V. Tadros)	How far are we willing to go with our interpretation of ‘take your victim as they are’?

 

Sullivan and AP Simester  

• Fault and causation  

Moore argues causing serious injury makes one more blameworthy (result crimes), culpability is irrelevant – D has more to answer for.  

• Fault-driven rule of policy  

The policy -> Medical negligence will rarely break chain of causation, unless it is so ‘independent’ and ‘potent’  

Cheshire, Jordan  

• Voluntary acts and autonomy  

The general rule is that a "free, deliberate, and informed" intervention by a third party or the victim acts as a novus actus interveniens. 

Sullivan and Simester challenge this by noting that voluntary acts can still be "causally influenced" by others through persuasion or manipulation. 

(R v Wallace acid, euthanasia + R v Evans DOC)