The Law of Torts: Negligence and Causation (Lecture 4, LAWS11069)

This lecture examines the issue of causation as an element of the tort of negligence. Causation has typically been problematic. The courts have approached causation by dividing it into (i) factual causation and (ii) legal causation (“remoteness”). The Civil Liability Act (CLA) 2003 (Qld) continues with a two-step approach. It retains the 1st limb of factual causation but describes the 2nd step as ‘scope of liability’. While this area of the law seems to be a matter of factual and scientific questions, it could be argued that the decisions of the court contain value judgements and policy considerations. This lecture will consider common law tests for causation and the interpretation of CLA reforms to these common law tests.