First Principles of Business Law

6. Causation

6.2.9. Immediate and remote harm

Particular conduct may have far-reaching consequences. Some consequences may follow from the defendant's conduct quickly or immediately, others not. Some consequences may have a close physical connection with the defendant's conduct; other consequences may be more remote. And some consequences seem more probable or likely to occur than others. These variations exist regardless of whether the defendant's conduct was the sole cause, or a contributing cause, of the harm.

Assuming the absence of new intervening causes, it may be very difficult to decide exactly where the effect of a defendant's conduct finally ends. So we must ask, to what extent are defendants potentially liable in law for the harm caused by their conduct?  Which of the statements below is the most accurate?

(a) Defendants are potentially responsible for all the future consequences of their acts.

(b) Defendants are potentially responsible only for the immediate physical consequences of their acts.