Law & Economics

Tort and Accident Law

Intermediate

Proximate Cause

A legal limitation on responsibility that asks whether the connection between conduct and injury is sufficiently direct, foreseeable, or within the scope of the risk to justify liability.

Why It Matters

Proximate-cause rules limit the potentially open-ended reach of accident liability and allocate error and administrative costs when causal chains extend beyond risks actors could reasonably process.

Selected Literature

A short list of directly relevant archive entries.

Related Cases

1928

Foundations of Law and Economics

Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co.

248 N.Y. 339, 162 N.E. 99 (1928)

Duty, foreseeability, and the legal boundary placed on liability for an extended chain of accidental harm.

1854

Foundations of Law and Economics

Hadley v. Baxendale

9 Exch. 341, 156 Eng. Rep. 145 (1854)

Foreseeability, information disclosure, and limits on consequential damages for breach of contract.

1944

Foundations of Law and Economics

Escola v. Coca Cola Bottling Co.

24 Cal. 2d 453, 150 P.2d 436 (1944)

Proof of negligence and the allocation of product-accident risk between manufacturers and consumers.