Cookies?
Library Header Image
LSE Research Online LSE Library Services

Common-sense causation in the law

Summers, Andrew ORCID: 0000-0002-4978-7743 (2018) Common-sense causation in the law. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 38 (4). 793 – 821. ISSN 0143-6503

[img]
Preview
Text - Accepted Version
Download (559kB) | Preview
Identification Number: 10.1093/ojls/gqy028

Abstract

Judges often invoke ‘common sense’ when deciding questions of legal causation. I draw on empirical evidence to refine the common-sense theory of legal causation developed by Hart and Honoré in Causation in the Law. I show that the two main common-sense principles that Hart and Honoré identified are empirically well founded; I also show how experimental research into causal selection can be used to specify these principles with greater precision than before. This exploratory approach can provide legal scholars with a plausible new set of hypotheses to use in re-examining the decided cases on legal causation. If correct, the new common-sense theory that I develop has important implications not only for debates within legal scholarship, but also for judicial practice on issues of legal causation across both criminal and private law.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: https://academic.oup.com/ojls
Additional Information: © 2018 Oxford University Press
Divisions: Law
Subjects: K Law > K Law (General)
Date Deposited: 27 Jul 2018 11:59
Last Modified: 29 Mar 2024 02:27
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/89505

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics