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Criminal Law

But For and Proximate Cause

In this section we examine the traditional test for causation -- that the defendant be both the but-for cause of the charged harm and that the harm proximately (or foreseeably) resulted from her conduct. As we shall see, the latter question is really little more than a judgment that it is fair to hold this defendant responsible for causing this harm. The Model Penal Code approach simply makes this point explicit.