In January, 1957, the Law Reform Committee, acting upon a reference from the Lord Chancellor, published a report entitled Conditions and Exceptions in Insurance Policies,1 in which it expressed the view that the law of insurance was open to abuse by insurers, who were entitled to refuse to honour policies on purely technical grounds. The Committee did not regard reform as pressing, and its limited proposals were shelved. Despite subsequent academic protest at the availability and operation of technical defences, in particular those of non-disclosure2 and breach of warranty,3 successive Governments responded in a negative fashion4 until finally prodded into action in 1977 by the publication of the EEC draft directive dealing with these defences. The question was referred to the Law Commission in May, 1978, the resultant Working Paper being published in January, 1979. Following consultation, the Law Commission produced its Final Report and Draft Bill in October, 1980.

The Working Paper was largely concerned with non-disclosure and breach of warranty, these being regarded as the most pressing matters by the Government.5 The Law Commission in this document had little difficulty in condemning the operation of the law relating to warranties, but faced a more serious problem in relation to the duty to disclose. On one side of the debate were the insurers, arguing that a duty of disclosure on the insured is vital to allow a proper assessment of the premium; against this it had been argued, mainly by consumer protection groups, that the duty of disclosure places impossible burdens upon proposers. Faced with this, the Law Commission put forward a compromise proposal in the Working Paper.6 The subsequent consultation process witnessed a polarising of views by those submitting evidence, and, consequently, the Final Report broadly adheres to the compromise put forward in the Working Paper. It is widely believed that the present Government will implement, with changes of detail, the proposals embodied in the Final Report, and it is the purpose of this article to outline the likely main changes in the law. It may