Dialogues on Causation with Stapleton

Abstract Until recently, Stapleton agreed that the analysis of factual causation, based on the laws of nature, should be distinguished from the further issues of legal responsibility and ultimate liability, and that the NESS weak-necessity analysis is the best available analysis of factual causation. However, denying the utility of theory and the existence of any core concept of causation, she has proposed various ‘more forensically attractive’ versions of the NESS analysis, all of which are modified but-for tests that depart from the NESS analysis and are deficient. Recently, she has rejected the NESS analysis and the distinction between factual causation and attribution of legal responsibility. Nevertheless, her work has led to improvements in the NESS analysis and has facilitated its general acceptance by academics and increasingly by the courts as they have become aware of it in relevant cases.