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Causa causans

Defined in 4 dictionaries — Case Law, Cyclopedic (1922), Ballentine's (1916), Black's (1891)

Definitions from Case Law

From 55 U.S. 468 - Philadelphia & Reading Railroad v. Derby · 1852Most cited · 253 citing opinions

The intrusting such a powerful and dangerous engine as a locomotive, to one who will not submit to control, and render implicit obedience to orders, is itself an act of negligence, the ' causa causans ' of the mischief; while the proximate cause, or the ipsa negligentia which produces it, may truly be said, in most cases, to be the disobedience of orders by the servant so intrusted.

Show all 2 Supreme Court definitions and how they changed over time 1852–1870

The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary

Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922

The immediate cause; the last link in the chain of causation. Rapalje & L.

Ballentine's Law Dictionary

James A. Ballentine · 1916

The causing or immediate cause.

A Dictionary of Law

Henry Campbell Black · 1891

The immediate cause; the last link in the chain of causation, Causa causantis, causa est causati. The cause of the thing causing is the cause of the effect. 4 Camp. 284; 4 Gray, 398,