Cause
| Noun | 1. | cause - events that provide the generative force that is the origin of something; "they are trying to determine the cause of the crash" |
| 2. | cause - a justification for something existing or happening; "he had no cause to complain"; "they had good reason to rejoice" | |
| 3. | cause - a series of actions advancing a principle or tending toward a particular end; "he supported populist campaigns"; "they worked in the cause of world peace"; "the team was ready for a drive toward the pennant"; "the movement to end slavery"; "contributed to the war effort" | |
| 4. | cause - any entity that causes events to happen Synonyms: causal agency, causal agent | |
| 5. |  cause - a comprehensive term for any proceeding in a court of law whereby an individual seeks a legal remedy; "the family brought suit against the landlord" | |
| Verb | 1. | cause - give rise to; cause to happen or occur, not always intentionally; "cause a commotion"; "make a stir"; "cause an accident" |
| 2. | cause - cause to do; cause to act in a specified manner; "The ads induced me to buy a VCR"; "My children finally got me to buy a computer"; "My wife made me buy a new sofa" |
CAUSE, civ. law. This word has two meanings. 1. It signifies the delivery of the thing, or the accomplishment of the act which is the object of a convention. Datio vel factum, quibus ab una parte conventio, impleri caepta est. 6 Toull. n. 13, 166. 2. it is the consideration or motive for making a contract. An obligation without a cause, or with a false or unlawful cause, has no effect; but an engagement is not the less valid, though the cause be not expressed. The cause is illicit, when it is forbidden by law, when it is contra bones mores, or public order. Dig. 2, 14, 7, 4; Civ. Code of Lo. a. 1887-1894 Code Civil, liv. 3, c. 2, s. 4, art. 1131-1133; Toull. liv. 3, tit. 3, c. 2, s. 4.
CAUSE, contra torts, crim. That which produces an effect.
2. In considering a contract, an injury, or a crime, the law for many
purposes looks to the immediate, and not to any remote cause. Bac. Max. Reg.
1; Bac. Ab. Damages, E; Sid. 433; 2 Taunt. 314. If the cause be lawful, the
party will be justified; if unlawful, he will be condemned. The following is
an example in criminal law of an immediate and remote cause. If Peter, of
malice prepense, should discharge a pistol at Paul, and miss him, and then
cast away the pistol and fly and, being pursued by Paul, he turn round, and
kill him with a dagger, the law considers the first as the impulsive cause,
and Peter would be guilty of murder. But if Peter, with his dagger drawn,
had fallen down, and Paul in his haste had fallen upon it and killed
himself, the cause of Paul's death would have been too remote to charge
Peter as the murderer. Id.
3. In cases of insurance, the general rule is that the immediate and
not the remote cause of the loss is to be considered; causa proximo non
remota spedatur. This rule may, in some cases, apply to carriers. Story,
Bailm. Sec. 515.
4. For the reach of contracts, the contractor is liable for the
immediate effects of such breach, but not for any remote cause, as the
failure of a party who was to receive money, and did not receive it, in
consequence of which he was compelled to stop payment. 1 Brock. Cir. C. Rep.
103. See Remote; and also Domat, liv. 3, t. 5, s. 2, n. 4; Toull. liv. 3, n.
286; 6 Bing. R. 716; 6 Ves. 496; Pal. Ag. by Lloyd, 10; Story, Ag. Sec. 200;
3 Sumn. R. 38.
CAUSE, pleading.The reason; the motive.
2. In a replication de injuria, for example, the plaintiff alleges that
the defendant of his own wrong, and without the cause by him in his plea
alleged, did, &c. The word cause here means without the matter of excuse
alleged, and though in the singular number, it puts in issue all the facts
in the plea, which constitute but one cause. 8 Co. 67; 11 East, 451; 1 Chit.
Pl. 585.
CAUSE, practice. A Contested question before a court of justice; it is a Suit or action. Causes are civil or criminal. Wood's Civ. Law, 302; Code, 2, 416.
accomplish, achieve, act, action, activity, agency, agent, ambition, antecedent, aspiration, author, basis, be productive, bear, beget, belief, bind, breed, bring about, bring forth, bring into being, bring on, bring to effect, bring to fruition, bring to pass, call, call forth, call up, calling, campaign, case, cause in court, cause to, commitment, compel, conceive, concern, consideration, constrain, creator, crusade, do, draw on, drive, effectuate, elicit, enforce, engender, engineer, establish, evoke, execute, faith, father, force, found, foundation, generate, generator, genesis, gestate, get up, give birth to, give occasion to, give origin to, give rise to, goad, goal, good reason, great cause, ground, grounds, guiding light, guiding star, hatch, have, ideal, impel, impulse, inaugurate, industrialize, inspiration, inspire, institute, intention, interest, issue, judicial process, justification, lawsuit, lead to, legal action, legal case, legal proceedings, legal process, legal remedy, lifework, litigation, lodestar, mainspring, make, mass movement, mass-produce, material basis, matter, motivate, motive, movement, muster up, necessity, obligation, originate, originator, overproduce, perform, precipitate, prime mover, proceedings, produce, producer, promote, prosecution, provoke, realize, reason for being, restrain, right, root, sake, score, secure, set afloat, set on foot, set up, sire, source, spring, substance, suit, suit at law, summon up, tie, ulterior motive, undertaking, use force upon, vocation, volume-produce, warrant, work, work up