Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
RESTATING INSURANCE CONTRACT LAW: CENTENNIAL REFLECTIONS ON LANDMARK REFORM
F D Rose *
Marking the centenary of the Marine Insurance Act 1906, this article looks at some of the origins, content and subsequent history of marine insurance law and practice, with regard to the effects of statutory codification and prospects for future development of the law.
BEFORE THE 1906 ACT
The Marine Insurance Act 1906 was passed on 21 December 1906, a century ago this year. It is therefore timely to reflect on some of its origins, achievements and failures, as well as the current status of the Act, its appropriateness for the present and future condition of insurance law and, more generally, ways in which insurance law and practice may or should develop in the future. This is a large subject. It is neither possible nor necessary to review all of the Act’s provisions, which are discussed fully elsewhere.1
Nor is it appropriate, in a discussion based on the Marine Insurance Act 1906, to concentrate on the current debate about the possibility and scope of future legislative reform, whether simply of the 1906 Act or of insurance law in general.2
These matters will arise for consideration. But it is necessary to be selective.
Following shortly after the Bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar,3
it is well to remember that the United Kingdom’s heritage is in many respects owed to its success as an international trading nation, that commerce (with its attendant benefits) has flourished as a consequence of the initiatives of merchants, and that the main source of English law—the common law—has evolved case-by-case, as a means of providing workable solutions to practical problems. Until recent times, statutory intervention has been rare, and the Marine Insurance Act 1906 has therefore been exceptional.
* Professor of Commercial Law, University of Bristol. This article is based on a lecture delivered to the British Insurance Law Association on St Patrick’s Day 2006.
1. See esp. Sir MJ Mustill and JCB Gilman, Arnould’s Law of Marine Insurance and Average
, 16th edn, vols 1–2 (1981), vol 3 (1997) (hereafter “Arnould
”); H Bennett, The Law of Marine Insurance
, 2nd edn (2006); FD Rose, Marine Insurance: Law and Practice
(2004) (hereafter “Rose, MILP”).
2. Discussion of the main issues can be found in the following and in further materials cited therein: Insurance Contract Law Reform: Recommendations to the Law Commission
(British Insurance Law Association Sub-Committee Report, 2002); P Macdonald Eggers, “The Marine Insurance Act 1906: Judicial Attitudes and Innovation: Time for Reform?”, ch 10 of DR Thomas (ed), Marine Insurance: The Law in Transition
(2006); Law Commission and Scottish Law Commission, Insurance Contract Law: A Joint Scoping Paper
(2006); HG Beale, “The Law Commissions’ Project on Insurance Contract Law” (BILA seminar, 19 January 2006); M Mander (rapporteur), “Reform of English Insurance Contract Law” (report of joint seminar held by BILA and the Law Commission, 19 January 2006).
3. The battle took place on 21 October 1805.
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