ABSTRACT
The legal theory of causation has always been regarded as one of the most troublesome areas of the law. This was pointed out in Ashworth v General Accident Fire and Life Assurance Corpn1 by Mr Justice Black, who said: ‘I know of no problem in the whole science of the law more abstruse than that of causation. The philosophers have had much to say about it.’ Furthermore, the matter is aggravated by the fact, as one Law Lord has observed, that ‘the terminology of causation in English law is by no means ideal. It would be the better for a little plain English’.2 The excessive use of Latin terms to describe the legal principles has not helped matters.3
