Topic 2: Principles Of Criminal Liability: Causation Flashcards
What is causation?
The defendant has to be the ultimate cause of the crime to be convicted
What is factual causation?
The defendant can only be found guilty of an offence if the consequence would not have happened ‘but for’ the defendants actions
What is legal causation?
Where there might be more than one act contributing to the ultimate consequence, but the defendant can still be found guilty if they were ‘more than a minimal cause’ of the consequence
What phrase do we use for factual causation?
‘But for’
What phrase do we use for Legal causation?
‘More than a minimal cause’
What is the thin skull rule & what phrase do we use to describe it?
‘Take the victim as he finds them’
If the victim has something unusual about them, which makes the injury more serious, the defendants still liable
What is an intervening act?
There must be a direct link with the defendants conduct to the actual consequence
‘Breaking the chain of causation’
What can a chain of causation be broken by?
- an act of a 3rd party
- victims own act
- natural but unpredictable event
When will medical mistreatment break the chain of causation?
If the defendants actions are ‘in itself so potent in causing death’
What are the 2 types of cases where doctors are accused of causing death?
- Palliative care
- Mistreatment of a seriously ill patient who later dies
What is ‘actions of a 3rd party’?
A third party (who is not medical professional) that’s involved in the event which leads to the death of the victim
When does turning off life support machines not break the chain of causation?
When it’s in the doctors best interests of the patient
What test is used in victims own actions?
The daftness test
What’s ‘victims own self-neglect’?
When the victim has negligent behaviour (the chain of causation is rarely broken by this)
