Question

Discuss the purpose of legal causation. How does legal causation assist in prosecuting criminals? What is dependent intervening cause?

Answer 1

Discuss the purpose of legal causation.

The main purpose of casuation in criminal liability is to see that whether the defendants act have caused any harm or damage.

Okay coming to causations in criminal liability, these can be divided into;-

• FACTUAL CAUSATION
• LEGAL CAUSATION

Here we have to talk about legal causation

so the purpose of the legal causation is to bring out the most proximate cause of the as in factual causation we take but for a test where almost everything is a cause sometimes makes it difficult to find the real one but legal causation gives us the most appropriate cause this applies to strict liabilities only.

IHow does legal causation assist in prosecuting criminals?

Legal causation has this rule ''NOVAS ACTUS INTERVEINS'' the meaning of this is that if there is the intervention of some new act in the causations then the chain of the cause is broken.

Example - if A injures B and B while the ambulance is taking him to the hospital dies because of the accident which took place on the way according to the factual causation A would be liable by but for test but acc to legal causation there will be novas actus interveins that means A would not be liable of the accident which took place on the way. \

What is the dependent intervening cause?

it is the act of the third person which is considered a normal response compared to the defendant's act. these acts are considered foreseeable.