20.1 Introduction

Under the Insurance Law, non-marine insurance business is divided into two categories: personal insurance and property insurance.1 Property insurance has been considered in Chapter 19, “Property insurance,” of this book. Personal insurance is considered in this chapter. Many aspects will be examined, such as types of personal insurance, insurable interest in personal insurance, the insured's pre-contractual duty of disclosure and representation, the insurer's pre-contractual duty of explanation of policy terms, formation of a life insurance contract, suspension and reinstatement of a life policy, matters on beneficiaries in life insurance, and the concept of incontestability. Some of these aspects have been examined in detail in the previous chapters, i.e. insurable interest,2 the insured's duty of disclosure,3 and the insurer's duty to explain policy terms,4 so brief accounts in respect of those aspects will suffice in this chapter. The rules of law and practice in relation to the formation of a life insurance contract, suspension and reinstatement of life policies, and matters of beneficiaries merit detailed discussion, as lots of disputes have arisen from these three aspects.