Legal Case Summary
R v White [1910] 2 KB 124
CAUSATION – ATTEMPT
Facts
The defendant put poison into the evening drink of the victim, his mother, with the intention of killing her. The victim drank a few sips of the drink and then fell asleep. She did not wake up, however the medical evidence was that she had died of a heart attack rather than as a result of the poison. The defendant also gave evidence that he had not intended to kill her by a single dose but had planned to deliver multiple doses over a longer period of time. The defendant was convicted of attempted murder.
Issues
On appeal, the question arose as to whether the defendant could be liable for murder given that his actions had not factually caused the death. A second issue was whether having delivered a single dose was a sufficient ‘attempt’ to ground the conviction in light of the evidence that the defendant had intended the victim to die as a result of later doses which were never administered.
Decision/Outcome
The court established the ‘but for’ test of causation, according to which the defendant could not be convicted unless it could be shown that ‘but for’ his actions the victim would not have died. On the facts of this case the test was not met, therefore the defendant could not be convicted of murder.
On the issue of attempt, the court held that it was sufficient that the attempted murder had been begun, notwithstanding that the defendant had not completed his plan. The conviction for attempted murder was therefore upheld.
Updated 20 March 2026
This summary of R v White [1910] 2 KB 124 remains legally accurate. The case continues to be the leading authority establishing the ‘but for’ test of factual causation in criminal law, and is still routinely cited in that context. The outcome on the attempt conviction also remains good law. Nothing in subsequent legislation or case law has displaced the core principles described in this article. Readers should note, however, that the law of attempt is now governed by the Criminal Attempts Act 1981, which codified and developed the common law position; the 1910 decision on attempt should therefore be understood in that broader statutory context when applied to modern problems.
