Palsgraf

I read recently, in a book about a murder in Louisiana, to which I shall return in due course, that a case called Palsgraf  vs. Long Island Railroad Co. is much used as a case study, in law schools in the US, into how the law apportions blame. What happens when you have a long chain of events and actions leading to a disaster? How do you assign blame and responsibility for that disaster?

I mention it today because I have once again been annoyed by our readiness to reach for the criminal law when something goes wrong, in this case the Grenfell tower block.

No doubt there were errors of judgement and mistakes in and around the local authority concerned, with terrible consequences. But what on earth should we expect when we elect a government which made no secret of its intention to make deep cuts in public services? If you take away half the budget of a local authority, you leave it with the hard choice of delivering 20 poor services or simply cutting out 10 services. In these circumstances there are going to be errors of judgement and mistakes.

But I assume that there is no question of taking the politicians making the cuts to court, or the electors that put them in office so to do.

Maybe someone should sent a copy of the case study mentioned above to all involved.

Reference 1: https://www.princeton.edu/~ereading/Palsgraf%20v.%20Long%20Island%20Railroad%20Co.pdf (Princeton).

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palsgraf_v._Long_Island_Railroad_Co. (Wikipedia).