ABSTRACT
It is not without significance that philosophy and science each attempt explanations of cause and effect. A body of scientists now subscribe to chaos theory. I sometimes think that that theory may have relevance to the legal theory of causation. The theory, as I understand it, is essentially that normal actions are not always productive of predictable consequences: they can cause random results. A mathematician wrote a book called Does God Play Dice? The Mathematics of Chaos. The most trivial of events he theorised, might, in combination with other trivial causes, contribute to major catastrophes-the butterfly wings theory. He wrote: 1
I will not dwell on the theoretical notions underpinning the requirement of causation. That is the task of others. I will merely focus on the legal rules, which are, in the end, those set by the court of which I am a member.
