It’s an idea whose time had come.
I had always wanted to be part of a wine club, one whose members were genuinely interested in wine and learning about wine, and one whose members would not be adverse to chipping in for very nice bottles. But for one reason or another the club did not materialize.
If you’re reading this blog there’s probably about a 10% chance you’re a law student. If so, you’ve no doubt taken torts. Torts–which can loosely be defined as civil actions to recover damages for injuries to person or property–can be divided into two broad categories: intentional torts and unintentional torts. Unintentional torts encompass negligence, the five elements of which are:
- Duty
- Breach of duty
- But-for (factual) cause
- Proximate (legal) cause
- Damages
The proximate cause can be defined as that which gave rise to the injury. For instance, if I accidentally push someone through a window, then the proximate cause of the resultant injury is my push.
But-for causation, however, is an interesting concept because it recognizes that every outcome is the result of many different causes. For instance, in the above scenario there are multiple but-for causes, such as the victim’s sitting on the window, my being on the second floor, the host throwing a party, etc., all the way to very distant events such as my being born, my parents meeting, ancient tribes settling in what is present-day Korea, and so on. The analysis for but-for causation becomes: “but for X’s action, would Y have suffered injury?”
Vinicultured: A Wine Blog 