student walking under the Law School arches at the University of Birmingham on a sunny day

The book focuses on the doctrine of causation, examining its suitability to influence, or contribute to, the process of responsibility of State and non-State actors in international law. Split into four chapters, the book begins by examining the workings of causation across various national legal systems, including the common law and the civil law systems.

The central second chapter considers the doctrine of causation within the structure of the law of State responsibility for internationally wrongful acts, focusing mainly on the ways in which causation is both adopted and bounded within the international legal system.

The next chapter deals with the practice of international courts and tribunals relating to causation, including the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights, and the final chapter offers some critique of secondary literature on causation and related issues arising in national and international law.