Causation in French criminal law

Abstract

The sine qua non theory, which dominated for a long time to determine a causation in the French criminal jurisprudence, remains working now. At the same time, the imputation to an individual of consequences caused without intention after the reform of 2000 is made dependent on whether the causation was direct or indirect. In the case of indirect causation, the criminal liability of an individual occurs only in the presence of qualified guilt, which can be either mixed mens rea (knowledge and negligence in one crime), rejected by the Russian doctrine, or a special gravity of acts at the time when they were committed. For Russian jurisprudence, the experience of France can be useful due to the different understanding of causality in the commission of an intentional crime and crimes with other forms of mens rea, and also in the context that the sine qua non theory is insufficient to determine the imputable causation. The opportunity implemented in France to regulate the issue of causation by legislative means is also of theoretical and practical interest.