Abstract
Civil law seeks to determine responsibility for wrongdoing and appropriate compensation for individuals who have been wronged. It considers psychology an adjunct profession in this endeavor, with psychologists offering evidence to help the trier of fact arrive at just decisions. The law treats causality and causation from the perspective of this overall orientation. When a defendant is accused of wrongfully causing a certain outcome, the legal system marshals its resources to either prove causality or defend against the accusations. In terms of civil (tort) cases, this usually refers to personal injury, negligence, or malpractice, and there may be judgments of liability and subsequent awards for damages and compensation. Romano (1999) underscores that causation is intrinsic to virtually every case that an attorney will ever handle. Freckelton (2002) concurs, even indicating that causation is central to most litigation: “Proof of causation lies at the very heart of the resolution of most civil and criminal litigation” (p. 478).
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Young, G. (2007). Causality: Concepts, Issues, and Recommendations. In: Causality of Psychological Injury. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-36445-2_3
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