Even at 100 pages longer than the previous edition, this book is remarkably short, given its scope. Not only does it cover the principles of insurance law, but it also repeats much of that coverage in a chapter by chapter discussion of different varieties of insurance contract: life, accident, fire, liability, motor vehicle, guarantee and marine insurance all have their individual treatments. There is much useful ancillary material also: the most significant changes from the previous edition are the expansion of the conflict of laws material to include a section on the choice of law, dealing with the Rome Convention 1980, as implemented by the Contracts (Applicable Law) Act 1990 and the replacement of the previous material on arbitration with a gloss on the Arbitration Act 1996. The chapters on reinsurance and the regulation of insurers have been reworked to good effect. The chapter on guarantees for policyholders does not take account of the prospective changes implemented by the Policyholders Protection Act 1997, which almost certainly emerged after this edition went to press.

The book’s principal weakness stems precisely from the compromise necessary to produce a work of intermediate complexity and size. English and Scottish case law is the primary source of authority. Reference to Commonwealth decisions is infrequent. Perhaps surprisingly, given limitations of space, the omission of any reference to persuasive United States’ decisions (except where there is no local authority) is carefully justified (at p. 13). The cited cases are well dealt with. In particular, Professor Merkin has been very successful in bringing out the impact of recent decisions (e.g., Yorkshire Water Services Ltd v. Sun Alliance and London Insurance Plc [1996] The Times, 20 August (cited in the text as “Unreported”) and Hussain v. Brown (No. 2) (1996) (Unreported) at relevant points in the text. Some loss of fine detail is inevitable, however, in a work of this length, both as to the number of cases cited and the depth of their treatment. Professor Merkin’s larger work, Insurance Contract Law (rev. edn, Kluwer, 1987) which runs to about 1,000 pages and covers slightly less material, gives an indication of the space required for an exhaustive treatment of the case law. In that instance there may be no need for reference to secondary materials (journal articles and the like). In the case of Colinvaux, however, since the treatment of the cases cannot be exhaustive, it is perhaps less easy to justify the complete absence of citations to secondary material from any jurisdiction. Their absence makes the book less valuable as an academic reference.