Abstract

SAN MARTIN NEIRA, LILIAN C.  and  LARROUCAU TORRES, JORGE. The Evidentiary Reasoning in Causation in Civil Liability: The Legal Criteria on which Chilean Jurisprudence is Based. Rev. Derecho Privado [online]. 2021, n.40, pp.329-359.  Epub Feb 08, 2021. ISSN 0123-4366.  https://doi.org/10.18601/01234366.n40.12.

This article describes the evidence reasoning in civil liability judgments in relation to causation. Based on modern literature and regulation and evidentiary rules, as well as Chilean civil case law on medical responsibility and arising from natural disasters, the article demonstrates that the judges has two strategies to develop this evidentiary reasoning: first, to have for accrediting the causal link by proof of negligence; and, second, when this functional connection between negligence and causation is not possible, the judgments to turn to other legal criteria, both general (presumptions, free evaluation of evidence and standards of proof) and specifics (loss of opportunity and evidential damage principle).

Keywords : judicial evidence; causation in civil liability; presumptions; free evaluation of evidence; standards of proof; loss of opportunity; evidential damage principle.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )