Thanks this is a really cool question.

"The supposed superfluous distinction between actual and spurious joint liability is also to be examined."

This is about joint liability (solidarschuld, Solidarität) among those involved in joint liability mass car accident and whether their joint liability in terms of the legal case is real (actual) or just convenient or random (spurious).

See second reference below for example of "real" and "spurious" used together. :-)

German term (edited): (CH) echte und unechte Solidarität /Solidarhaftung/

Solidarität: often Swiss for Solidarhaftung.

Query in US-Am. fed. state law: strict vs. 'non-strict' joint & several liability - pls. see the second wblink.

Unechte / multiple-cause: could include vicarious vs. direct liability of an employer for a van-driving employee who has caused a road accident.

First weblink: Es kann vorkommen, dass einzelne Schädiger einen persönlichen Herabsetzungsgrund (defens/ce entered in mitigation) geltend machen könnten, wobei dies im Falle der Solidarhaftung nicht so einfach ist. Eine Verjährungsunterbrechung ist nur bei echter Solidarität möglich. Im Zusammenspiel mit Versicherungen stellt sich zudem die Frage nach dem Quotenvorrecht. Schlussendlich wird noch die Frage aufgeworfen, wie die Solidarhaftung bei internationalen Verhältnissen aus Schweizer Sicht zu beurteilen sei.

see also, in a Swiss context, echte Solidarschulld vs. subsidiäre Haftung: Das vorliegende Urteil betrifft die Übertragung eines Mietverhältnisses (OR 263). Strittig war die Frage, ob Abs. 4 dieser Bestimmung eine echte Solidarschuld i.S.v. OR 143 ff. anordnet oder doch eine subsidiäre Haftung des übertragenden Mieters für den Fall, dass der erwerbende Mieter nicht leiste. https://swissblawg.ch/2014/07/4a5002013-echte-solidarhaftung...

Kausalität > rather than causality, means causation split in Anglo-Am. tort law into proximate and non-proximate or remote causation.-

My answer is yes, a simplification of Adrian's.

The article appears to be making the well-known point that in mutiple vehicle accidents, there is often a situation in which the injured party has a choice on who to sue, ranging from the driver who hit him/her, down to the driver who first caused the accident. The classis example is a bumper-to-bumper RTA involving several vehicles.

The law knows many other circumstances in which similar principles apply.

Secondary Liability: charging decisions on principals and ...
www.cps.gov.uk › legal-guidance › secondary-liability-...
4 Feb 2019 - Prior to R v Jogee, there were two main qualifications that limited the scope of secondary liability. D2 was not liable where: D1's act is “ ...

The Law Applicable to Secondary Liability in Intellectual ...
www.law.columbia.edu › files › microsites › kernochan
PDF
16 Oct 2013 - Addressing questions of choice of law in cases of secondary liability runs headlong into ... primary question of direct liability and a secondary question of whether a third party ... sons hosting a large bit-torrent tracker. Id. at 16.

Secondary liability - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Secondary_liability
In other words, courts, rather than Congress, have been the primary developers of theories and policies concerning secondary liability. Contents. 1 Early case law ...

Compare with this:
"42 Ibid., Article 68. In this article, an imitative form of joint liability that is derived from the concept “Unechte Solidaritat” in German law is imposed on the polluter and the third party. In this pseudo joint liability, the victim is entitled to choose either the polluter or the third party from whom to claim compensation for their pollution damage. The polluter has the right of recourse against the third party after having compensated the victims." https://imarest.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00908320.201...

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Note added at 14 hrs (2020-04-22 19:52:20 GMT)
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Whilst I agree that for translation purposes it is better to determine what would be used in the target culture (English-speaking common-law country) rather than fall into the common trap of "explaining what the German means", I must admit that in this case I happen to be more fascinated by the German angle than the best culture-appropriate solution.

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Note added at 15 hrs (2020-04-22 20:26:09 GMT)
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I initially figured it would be more fruitful to find something that ties in with the author's explanation of the solidarity principle than to find a more 'authoritative' term that may not fit so well with what the author tries to explain in that paragraph.

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Note added at 15 hrs (2020-04-22 20:37:28 GMT)
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Also see this source on how various law systems " deal with multiple debtors in contract.
...development of quasi-solidarity (unechte Solidarität)..." https://books.google.com/books?id=uR8C-vcwOEIC&pg=RA4-PA41&l...