At a distance; afar off, not immediate. A remote cause is not in general sufficient to charge a man with the commission of a crime, nor with being the author of a tort. 2. When a man suffers an injury in consequence of the violation of a contract, he is in general entitled to damages for the violation of such contract, but not for remote consequences, unconnected with the contract, to which he may be subjected; as, for example, if the maker of a promissory note should not pay it at maturity; the holder will be entitled to damages arising from the breach of the contract, namely, the principal and interest; but should the holder, in consequence of the non-payment of such note, be compelled to stop payment, and lose his credit and his business, the maker will not be responsible for such losses, on account of the great remoteness of the cause; so if an agent who is bound to account should neglect to do so, and a similar failure should take place, the agent would not be responsible for the damages thus caused.
Law Dictionary – Alternative Legal Definition
This word la used in law chiefly as the antithesis of ”proximate,” and conveys the idea of mediateness or of the intervention of something else. Remote oause. In the law of negligence, a “remote” cause of an accident or injury is one which does not by itself alone produce the given result but which sets in motion another cause, called the “proximate” cause, which immediately brings about the given effect; or, as otherwise defined, it is “that which may have happened and yet no injury have occurred, notwithstanding that no injury could have occurred if it had not happened. Remote damage. Damage is said to be too remote to be actionable when it is not the legal and natural consequence of the act complained of. Remote possibility. In the law of estates, a double possibility, or a limitation dependent on two or more facts or events both or all of which are contingent and uncertain; as, for example, the limitation of an estate to a given man provided that he shall marry a certain woman and that she shall then die and he shall marry another.