Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Causation definition

What does Causation mean? Causation describes how the law links a person’s conduct to a harmful outcome, so as to establish liability in negligence and other torts/delicts, or guilt in criminal offences. - Factual causation: usually the ‘but for’ test—would the loss or injury have occurred but for the defendant’s act or omission? In limited circumstances, courts accept material contribution to harm or a material increase in risk (notably for indivisible diseases), and address multiple concurrent or successive causes. - Legal causation (scope of liability/remoteness): whether the kind of damage was reasonably foreseeable and whether any novus actus interveniens broke the chain of causation. The thin...

Causation and remoteness in contract damages: but-for and effective cause tests, novus actus interveniens, multiple causes, loss of chance/profit, assumption of responsibility, mitigation and default judgment

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Practice notes

When considering a claim for damages

When a claim for damages is assessed (see Practice Note: Contractual damages—general principles and related content), the court applies the doctrines of causation and remoteness. A party’s responsibility to reduce its loss is addressed in Practice Note: Mitigation in civil damages claims. For assistance on causation within professional negligence, consult Practice Note: Causation and remoteness in professional negligence claims. For tort-based claims, see Practice Note: Causation and remoteness in tort and negligence claims. Note: matters concerning causation and the ‘but for’ test within the specific arena of insurance policy wording fall outside this Practice Note, but were examined in depth in the coronavirus (COVID-19) test case, The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) v Arch Insurance (UK) Ltd, the judgment emphasising the necessity of homing in on the central issue in ‘but for’ causation—namely, ‘but for what’ exactly?...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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