Causation

• Causation?


  the link between D’s actions and the criminal consequences.
• White? (causation)


  D is a fatal cause if, but for their actions, the harm would not have occurred.
• Kimsey?

  D is a legal cause if their contribution was more than minimal.
• What can new intervening acts do?

  break the chain of causation.
• Williams?

  V’s own actions will break the chain if they are daft and unforeseeable.
• Roberts?

  V’s own actions won’t break the chain if their actions are foreseeable.
• Cheshire?

  Medical negligence can break the chain if the treatment is independent of D’s actions and potent in itself in causing the harm.
• Jordan? (example)

  the wound D caused had already healed, when the doctor had given him a drug he was allergic to and killed him.
• Padgett?

  Third party intervention will break the chain if it is unforeseeable, but not if it was foreseeable from D’s actions, like police shooting back in Padgett.
• Blaue?

  Thin Skull rule: take your victim as you find them - V’s vulnerabilities will never break the chain.