Imagine a legal rule: “Liability arises from a specified cause, adult status is required, and a particular legal impediment prevents its effect.” Three separate checks follow: Has the cause occurred? Is the condition fulfilled? Is an impediment present?
The presence of the cause does not guarantee an operative ruling in every circumstance. A condition does not generate the ruling without its cause. Even with both present, a recognized impediment may block the ruling's commencement or continuation.
The model makes clear why a condition is not itself the operative cause and why an impediment is not merely an absent condition.