Causation

Question 1

What is the formula for causation?

Answer 1

Factual cause + legal cause - intervening acts = causation

Question 2

What is the rule for factual causation?

Answer 2

If “but for” D’s actions the consequence would not have occurred, then D is factual cause

Question 3

Give the facts of Paget

Answer 3

D used his pregnant girlfriend as a human shield resulting in her death

Question 4

Give the ratio of Paget

Answer 4

But for D’s actions V wouldn’t have died so D was liable

Question 5

Give the facts of White

Answer 5

D poisoned his mothers drink but she had a heart attack before drinking it

Question 6

Give the ratio of White

Answer 6

But for D’s actions V still would have died so factual causation fails

Question 7

Define legal causation

Answer 7

D must be the substantive and operating cause of the consequence

Question 8

Give the facts of Kimsey

Answer 8

D was involved in a high speed chase with a friend and lost control of her vehicle causing her friends to crash and die

Question 9

Give the ratio of Kimsey

Answer 9

D must be more than a minimal cause of the consequence

Question 10

What is the thin skull rule

Answer 10

You must take your victim as you find them

Question 11

Give the facts of Blaue

Answer 11

D was a Jehovah’s Witness who had been stabbed and refused a blood transfusion

Question 12

Give the ratio of Blaue

Answer 12

You must take your victim as you find them and will be liable for a more serious crime if that’s what their “thin skull” causes

Question 13

What is an intervening act?

Answer 13

An act which breaks the chain of causation

Question 14

Why is the sequence of causation regerred to as a chain?

Answer 14

Because it links the defendants act to the consequence

Question 15

Give the three ways in which the chain of causation may be broken

Answer 15

• an act of a third party
• the victims own act
• a natural but unpredictable event

Question 16

What is unlikely to break the chain?

Answer 16

Medical treatment

Question 17

When may medical treatment break the chain of causation

Answer 17

Where it is so independent from the defendants actions and “in itself so potent in causing death” that the defendants acts are insignificant

Question 18

Give the facts of Smith

Answer 18

D had been stabbed and was dropped on the way and given poor treatment which lessened his chances of recovery

Question 19

Give the ratio of Smith

Answer 19

Held D would still be liable if he was still an operating and substantial cause of death

Question 20

Give the facts of Cheshire

Answer 20

D had been shot but died 3 months later when the wound was virtually healed due to complications from a tracheotomy

Question 21

Give the ratio of Cheshire

Answer 21

Chain of causation not broken, D was liable as his actions need not be the sole cause of death provided that his acts contributed significantly to the death

Question 22

Give the facts of Jordan

Answer 22

V had been stabbed in the stomach and was given antibiotics that he was allergic to on two occasions he died the second time

Question 23

Give the ratio of Jordon

Answer 23

The doctors acts were held to be an intervening act here

Question 24

What did Malcherek and Steel establish?

Answer 24

Turning off the life support of a brain dead person is not an intervening act

Question 25

Give the facts of Roberts

Answer 25

v jumped from the car to escape from D’s unwanted sexual advances

Question 26

Give the ratio of Roberts

Answer 26

V’s actions were reasonable so it was not an intervening act

Question 27

Give the facts of Marjoram

Answer 27

D jumped from a second story window to escape D shouting abuse and kicking his door

Question 28

Give the ratio of Marjoram

Answer 28

It was reasonably foreseeable that v would fear violence and use the window as the only escape route

Question 29

Give the facts of Williams

Answer 29

V jumped from D’s car and died due to D’s attempt to steal his wallet

Question 30

Give the ratio of Williams

Answer 30

V’s reaction was not foreseeable or proportionate to the threat so the chain of causation was broken