vållandet

Vållandet is a Swedish legal term referring to the causal fault by which a person can be held legally responsible for harm caused to another. It describes the act of causing harm or a risk of harm, either intentionally or through negligence. In criminal law, vållande appears in offenses such as vållande till annans död (causing another person’s death) and vållande till kroppsskada (causing bodily harm). The concept is closely tied to the idea of a causal link between an act and a harmful outcome, combined with fault.

Elements of vållande include a sufficient causal connection between the act and the outcome and a form of fault by the actor. In cases of uppsåt (intent), the person desired or knowingly accepted the risk of the outcome. In vårdslöshet (negligence), liability arises when the person failed to act with the care that a reasonable person would have exercised, or when the risk of harm was foreseeable and disregarded.

Courts assess whether the harm was a foreseeable consequence and whether the degree of fault meets statutory standards. The classification varies from ordinary negligence to grovt vållande (gross negligence), which carries harsher penalties. Although vållande is primarily a criminal-law concept, it has parallels in civil liability regimes that base responsibility on fault and causal linkage.

Examples illustrate the concept: a driver who runs a red light and injures someone acts with vållande till kroppsskada; if the act results in death, it may constitute vållande till annans död, depending on intent or negligence. The term remains a central element in determining criminal liability for harm caused by another's actions.