The Theories of Causation. The Problems of Establishing Causation Between an Illegal Act and a Harmful Consequence

Introduction: in civil law, the issue of causation is one of the key issues in bringing to justice for harm caused. It is on the existence of this relationship that the possibility of compensation for harm to the victim depends. However, unfortunately, the current legislation does not define this concept. There are many scientific positions in the doctrine that ambiguously evaluate certain criteria of causation. For the most accurate understanding of the significance of the causal relationship in civil law, the development of additional criteria for its establishment, it is necessary to conduct an analysis at the theoretical level. Special attention is paid to the problems of establishing a causal relationship in difficult situations, for example, when there are many factors influencing the occurrence of harm or when the consequences are not a direct consequence of the actions of the person causing the harm. The author analyzes specific examples from judicial practice demonstrating the problems of the issue under study. The purpose is to analyze existing theories of causation, identify their advantages and disadvantages, and formulate additional criteria that will help optimize the establishment of cause-and-effect relationships in practice. To achieve this goal, the general scientific (the method of analysis and synthesis, systemic, dialectical) and the special (formal legal, comparative law) research methods are applied. Research results: the paper examines various theories of establishing causation, including foreign ones, which allow identifying the advantages and disadvantages of using certain approaches in establishing cause and effect. The specific examples from judicial practice are studied, which determine the viability of certain theories. The results obtained can become the basis for further research on the issue under study. Conclusions: the study of various scientific positions on the issue of establishing a causal relationship allows concluding that the presence of a causal relationship is the basis for the emergence of civil liability. Based on the analysis of various theories, the concept of direct causation seems to be the most reasonable. The necessity of using the criterion of concreteness to the existing criteria for establishing cause and effect is substantiated. The main characteristics of the concreteness criterion are formulated.