Causation

• 3 things that have to be proved for causation:

  Factual Causation

  Legal Causation

  No intervening acts that broke the chain of causation
• Factual Causation:

  'But For' test. Consequence wouldnt have happened but for the D's conduct. (R v Pagett)

  Recognition of a ‘but for’ test of factual causation. (R v White)
• Legal Causation: the D's conduct was in law the cause of the consequence.

  De minimis rule. D is guilty if his conduct is more than the minimal cause. D does not need to be the substancial cause.

  'More than a slight or trifling link' (R v Kimsey)
• Legal Causation: Thin skull rule

  D has to take victim as he found them.

  Developed the thin skull rule to include religious beliefs. (R v Blau)
• Intervening Act:

  Chain can be broken by...

  • An act of a third party
  • The victims own act
  • A natural but unpredictable event
• To break the chain of causation, there needs to be an operating and substancial cause that must be sufficiently independent of D's conduct and sufficiently serious enough.
• Act of Third Party: Medical Treatment:

  Must be palpably wrong. Its unlikely to break the chain unless its so independent and in itself so potent in causing death that D's actions are insignificant.
• Act of Third Party: Medical Treatment:

  Treatment was the substantive and operable cause of death. (R v Smith)

  Medical treatment must be so independent and powerful in itself to break the chain. (R v Cheshire)

  Doctor's actions were palpably wrong. (R v Jordan)
• Acts of Third Party: Medical Treatment:

  Doctors switching off a life support machine does not break the chain of causation. (R v Malcherek)

  Acts of Third Party: Police:

  Only break the chain if acts are unreasonable. Courts are reluctant to blame police as they try to help.
• Victim's own acts:

  Test:

  If a victim does something so daft or unexpected in reaction to the act of a defendant, the chain of causation will be broken by the victim's acts as they are not objectively foreseeable.(R v Roberts)

  Reasonably foreseeable that V would fear violence. Only escape route was the window. (R v Majoram)

  Victim's actions have to be proportionate to the threat. (R v Williams and Davies)
• A natural or unpredictable event:

  Usually will break chain of causation. (Injury or loss caused by tsunami etc.)