causal law
a statement of a consistent or invariant relationship between phenomena in which the relationship is one of causation. A causal law is thus distinguished from other statements of invariant regularity, such as “In temperate climates, when the seasons change, the leaves turn color.” Causal laws may reflect different types of causality, ranging from strict determinism, through probabilism, to teleology. Sometimes, in superficial usage, causal laws are understood not as mere statements of consistent relationships but as metaphysical entities or forces that produce the effects that consistently accrue. In such usage, a causal law becomes indistinguishable from a cause.