The Consequence Must be Caused by the Defendant's Culpable Act
R v Dalloway (1847) 2 Cox CC FACTS: The defendant was driving a horse and cart without holding the reins. A child ran in front of the cart, he was struck by one of the wheels and killed. It appeared on the evidence that, even if the defendant had been holding the reins, he could not have stopped the cart in time. HELD: If Dalloway had not been driving the cart, the child would not have been killed, and in that sense he 'caused' the death. However the court held it was necessary to go further and show that the death was due to the culpable element in his act – the negligence in not using the reins. Accordingly, D's conduct was not to blame for the killing and he was acquitted of manslaughter. See also R v Marchant [2004] 1 WLR 442, CA. In this case, a motorcyclist was killed when he was impaled on the front forks of a hay-bale tractor. It was held that, even if the tractor driver had covered the spikes as he was meant to, the impact with the tractor would have killed the biker anyway.