 The basic taxonomizing principle here is to separate tests that do not view proximate causation as having anything to do with real causal relations (the conventional view within legal theory) from tests that are motivated by the contrary thought. We shall begin with the former kind of test, what should be called policy-based proximate cause tests. Policy-based proximate cause tests are themselves usefully divided into two camps. Some—general policy tests—are justified by their service of a wide range of policies, indeed, as wide as are the policies that justify liability at all in torts or criminal law. By contrast, other tests are in the service of only one policy: the measurement of the culpability of the actor in terms of the mental state she had or should have had as she acted.