Study Of Intervening Causation In Tort Law Of Anglo-American Law

When subsequent events conspire with the situation generated by the defendant's negligence to produce the plaintiff's loss, it maybe broken the chain of causation, and then the intervening act or event will replace the defendant's negligence as the dffective legal cause of the plaintiff's injury. Such a chain-breaking event is referred to by English judges as a novus actus interveniens and by US commentators as a "superseding cause".It has been a long-standing judicial technique to focus on certain intervening events which, in conjunction with the defendant's default, precipitate or aggravate the plaintiff's injury. According, this dissertation aims at introducing the intervening causation in English and American tort law on purpose to lay the foundation for further research.Except for the fore word and including, the paper includes four parts.In the first part we indroduce some basic issues about intervening causation. This part analyses the notion of intervening factors and the notion of intervening causation.The second part recommends the causal theory in tort law of Anglo-American Law, which deals with the intervening causation issue.Including main theories such as the natural and probable consequences, substantial factor, direct consequence and apparent safety, foreseeability, scope of risk.In the third part mainly about the rules applicable to intervening causation cases in Anglo-American case law. According to different forms of intervening factor and the fact and circumstance of cases is divided into the following areas to present, including voluntary and deliberate acts, intervening negligent acts and omissions, the suicide cases and physical condition of defendant, negligence causing susceptibility to later harm, acts of children, escaping from danger and inconvenience, rescue of persons and property, extraordinary natural phenomena, coincidences and animals.The fourth part mainly about some comments on intervening causation theory in tort law of the Anglo-American Law.The last part is conclusion.It describes two issues. First, the author summarizes some weak points in this text; then, through summarizing the intervening causation of tort law in Anglo-American Law, and combining of our country's current causation in tort law, the paper summerize some enlightenment and conclusion, in author's view, to construct and improve our intervening causation in tort law.