CAUSE, LEGAL CAUSE AND PROXIMATE CAUSE. II

The problem connected with finding a passive situation to be a proximate cause is very different from that connected with finding an active force as a proximate cause. The reason for this difference is that the situation does nothing actively. It simply exists. Before it can contribute to an injury a force must be ejected from it or else the injured party must be brought, or bring himself, into contact with it.

The situation never does; it just is. It is never an aggressor. Its contribution to any given injury is a passive contribution. The situation is usually created by the exercise of a force.

But the force ceases to operate actively when the situation is created. Only the situation remains. The force is gone, and the situation is immobile.