Cause

Pronunciation: kạz

That which produces or effects a result; that from which anything proceeds, and without which it would not exist.

Cause is substance exerting its power into act, to make one thing begin to be.

- Locke.

That which is the occasion of an action or state; ground; reason; motive; as, cause for rejoicing.

I did it not for his cause.

- 2 Cor. vii. 12.

(Law) A suit or action in court; any legal process by which a party endeavors to obtain his claim, or what he regards as his right; case; ground of action.

Any subject of discussion or debate; matter; question; affair in general.

What counsel give you in this weighty cause!

- Shak.

The side of a question, which is espoused, advocated, and upheld by a person or party; a principle which is advocated; that which a person or party seeks to attain.

God befriend us, as our cause is just.

- Shak.

The part they take against me is from zeal to the cause.

- Burke.

Efficient cause
the agent or force that produces a change or result.

Final cause
the end, design, or object, for which anything is done.

Formal cause
the elements of a conception which make the conception or the thing conceived to be what it is; or the idea viewed as a formative principle and coöperating with the matter.

Material cause
that of which anything is made.

Proximate cause
See under Proximate.

To make common cause with
to join with in purposes and aims. - Macaulay.

v. t.

To effect as an agent; to produce; to be the occasion of; to bring about; to bring into existence; to make; - usually followed by an infinitive, sometimes by that with a finite verb.

[imp. & p. p. Caused ; p. pr. & vb. n. Causing.]

I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days.

- Gen. vii. 4.

Cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans.

- Col. iv. 16.

v. i.

To assign or show cause; to give a reason; to make excuse.

conj.

Abbreviation of Because.

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" Synonyms: grounds, reason
	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" Synonyms: crusade, campaign, drive, effort, movement
	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" Synonyms: case, causa, lawsuit, suit
Verb	1.	cause - give rise to; cause to happen or occur, not always intentionally; "cause a commotion"; "make a stir"; "cause an accident" Synonyms: do, make
	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" Synonyms: induce, stimulate, make, get, have

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