Question

How is actual cause different from proximate and probable cause?

Answer 1

Actual cause is original or genuine cause of an accident.

It can be understood with the help of following example-

Charlie eats an banana and drops its peels on the bottom step of a staircase. Bob runs down the staircase and slips on the banana peels, injuring himself in the process. But if Charlie has not dropped that banana peels, Bob would not have been injured. Charlie’s action was the actual cause of Bob’s injury.

In this example dropping of banana peels is actual cause.

Proximate cause is the legal cause, or what the law treats or recognizes as the primary factor of the injury.

It may not be the injury that makes the most sense or even the first event that kicks the domino effect. Proximate cause refers to an action that produces foreseeable legal consequences.

For example,

Some states use the " But for Test" to determine the proximate cause. For example, if a drunk driver collides with another car and causes injuries to that driver, but for that driver operating a vehicle while under the influence, that accident would not have occurred. It was reasonably noticeable that if a driver was drunk and operating the vehicle, he would hit another car.

Probable cause refers to a reasonable belief that a person will commit a crime or has committed a crime. A police officer must have enough and sufficient knowledge of the facts to make sure that a suspect is committing a crime. The belief must be based on strong and factual evidence, not on just suspicion.