Regulation of the Doctrine of Causality

Explicitly, the Criminal Code does not contain specific rules on causality.

However, this concept is implied in several articles of the Criminal Code, such as:

  • Article 359 of the Penal Code: Persecution
  • Article 360 of the Penal Code: Heavy Maltreatment
  • Article 338 of the Criminal Code: Murder
  • Article 187 of the Criminal Code: Burning

The articles use phrases such as "resulted in", "caused", and "caused" which indicate a causal relationship between the act and the effect.

Theories in Criminal Law Causality

The doctrine of causality is necessary to determine the existence of an objective link between human conduct and the prohibited effect. It is therefore particularly applicable to material crimes, and crimes qualified by their consequences. This is because in material criminal offences there is an element of constitutive effect, which relates to what causes the consequences specified in the legislation and which party is responsible for the criminal offence.

Post Hoc NonPropter hoc, an event that occurs after another event, is not necessarily the result of the event that preceded it.

To answer these challenges, 3 (three) theories have generally been developed, namely:

  1. Theory conditio sine quanon/theory equivalent.
  2. Theory adequate (general)
  3. Individual theorists