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actus reus - Coggle Diagram
actus reus
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causation
factual causation means but for the defendant's action, the victim would not have suffered that consequence. however on its own, the 'but for' rule is not enough. there has to be legal causation too- see the Supreme Court ruling in R v Hughes (2013). in basic terms, this looks at a theoretical percentage contribution by the defendant to the consequence
where a consequence must be proved, the prosecution has to show that the defendant's conduct was:
- the factual cause of the consequence, and
- the legal cause of that consequence
even where the rules on causation are established, the defendant may be excused of criminal liability if there is a subsequent intervening act, known as novus actus interveniens, which breaks the chain of causation