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Justifying Exceptions to Proof of Causation in Tort Law
Author(s) -
Steel Sandy
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the modern law review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1468-2230
pISSN - 0026-7961
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2230.12142
Subject(s) - causation , tort , plaintiff , damages , duty , law , balance (ability) , burden of proof , set (abstract data type) , order (exchange) , law and economics , political science , psychology , sociology , business , computer science , liability , finance , neuroscience , programming language
This article defends a set of exceptions to the general rule in tort law that a claimant must prove that a particular defendant's wrongful conduct was a cause of its injury on the balance of probabilities in order to be entitled to compensatory damages in respect of that injury. The basic rationale for each exception is that it provides a means of enforcing the defendant's secondary moral duty to its victim. The article further demonstrates that the acceptance of this set of exceptions does not undermine the general rule.