Causation in tort law: A decade in the Supreme Court of Canada

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • McInnes, Mitchell

• Introduction: In the past decade, the Supreme Court of Canada has taken an active role in restating the rules of causation that apply in tort actions arising from personal injuries. As will be seen, the relevant decisions fall within two broad categories. In the first group of cases, policy considerations have led the Court to emphasize that common sense, rather than science or philosophy, is the touchstone of causation in tort law. In the second group of cases, different policy considerations have led the Court to manipulate basic principles in the context of \"failure to warn\" actions and to reason constructively. The former set of decisions is desirable and defensible; the latter is not.

• Date created

  2000

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Canadian Law

• Type of Item

  Article (Published)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3TH8C25C

• License

  © 2000 Mitchell McInnes et al. This version of this article is open access and can be downloaded and shared. The original author(s) and source must be cited.