proximate cause
the most direct or immediate cause of an event. In a causal chain, it is the one that directly produces the effect. For example, the proximate cause of Smith’s aggression may be an insult, but the remote cause may be Smith’s early childhood experiences. In law, proximate cause is important in liability cases where it must be determined whether the actions of the defendant are sufficiently related to the outcome to be considered causal, or if the actions set in motion a chain of events that led to an outcome that could have been reasonably foreseen.