ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Attribution (law)

Imagine you're playing with your toys and your friend comes over to play. You have a favorite toy that only you get to play with, but you share all your other toys with your friend. One day, you notice that your favorite toy is broken and you remember that you let your friend play with it when they came over last time.

Attribution in law is like trying to figure out who broke your favorite toy. It's about figuring out who should be held responsible for something that has happened.

For example, if someone steals something from a store, the store owner wants to hold the person who stole responsible for their actions. In legal terms, this means attributing the responsibility for the theft to the person who committed it.

To do this, lawyers will gather evidence (like security footage or witness statements) to try to prove who did what. Just like how you might ask your friend if they know anything about your broken toy, lawyers might ask witnesses if they saw who committed the crime.

Once the evidence has all been gathered, a judge or jury will decide who is responsible for what happened. They will attribute the blame (or responsibility) to the person who they believe caused the problem.

Overall, attribution in law is all about figuring out who should be held responsible for something bad that has happened, just like trying to figure out who broke your favorite toy.