A clear, critical analysis of proof of causation in the law of tort in England, France and Germany.

This book takes an original and comparative approach to issues of causation in tort law across many European legal systems.

Tort law and criminal law are closely bound together but their relationship rarely receives sustained and rigorous scrutiny. This is the first significant project in England and Wales to address that shortcoming. Building on growing interest amongst both academics and practitioners in the relationship between tort and crime, it draws together leading experts to chart the field and explore key points of interest. It uses a range of perspectives from legal theory, doctrine, legal history and comparative law to address some of the most important and interesting links between tort and crime. Examples include how the illegality defence operates to avoid stultification of the law, the difference between criminal and civil causation, how the Motor Insurers' Bureau not only insures but acts to enforce laws and alter behaviour, and why civil law only very rarely restores specific property but the criminal law does it daily.

This book undertakes an analysis of academic and judicial responses to the problem of evidential uncertainty in causation in negligence. It seeks to bring clarity to what has become a notoriously complex area by adopting a clear approach to the function of the doctrine of causation within a corrective justice-based account of negligence liability. It first explores basic causal models and issues of proof, including the role of statistical and epidemiological evidence, in order to isolate the problem of evidential uncertainty more precisely. Application of Richard Wright's NESS test to a range of English case law shows it to be more comprehensive than the 'but for' test that currently dominates, thereby reducing the need to resort to additional tests, such as the Wardlaw test of material contribution to harm, the scope and meaning of which are uncertain. The book builds on this foundation to explore the solution to a range of problems of evidential uncertainty, focusing on the Fairchild principle and the idea of risk as damage, as well as the notion of loss of a chance in medical negligence which is often seen as analogous with 'increase in risk', in an attempt to bring coherence to this area of the law.

Causation is an issue that is fundamental in both law and medicine, as well as the interface between the two disciplines. It is vital for the resolution of a great many disputes in court concerning personal injuries, medical negligence, criminal law and coronial issues, as well as in the provision of both diagnoses and treatment in medicine. This book offers a vital analysis of issues such as causation in law and medicine, issues of causal responsibility, agency and harm in criminal law, causation in forensic medicine, scientific and statistical approaches to causation, proof of cause, influence and effect, and causal responsibility in tort law. Including contributions from a number of distinguished doctors, lawyers and scientists, it will be of great interest and value to academics and practitioners alike.

A comparative account of the scientific and legal issues related to proof of causation in alleged cases of drug-induced injury, principally in the UK, Europe, and North America. In four case studies (DES, Bondoctin, vaccine damage, and the Gulf War Syndrome) the authors argue that current methods towards causation could be improved by using probabilistic approaches that give greater weight to epidemiological statistics, as refined by the application of Bayes' Theorem. The economic implications of the proposals are discussed. Distributed by ISBS. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This discussion of causal uncertainty in tort liability adopts a comparative approach in order to highlight the important normative, epistemological and procedural implications of the various proposed solutions. Occupying a middle ground between the legal perspective and the philosophical views that are at stake when it comes to the resolution of tort law cases in a context of causal uncertainty, the arguments will be of great interest to legal scholars, legal philosophers and advanced tort law students.

A classic treatment of the law relating to compensation for personal injuries, this edition discusses the relevant legal rules as well as the social, political and economic issues underlying the law.

An updated and extended second edition supporting the findings of its well-known predecessor which claimed that courts employ common-sense notions of causation in determining legal responsibility.