marine insurance

Marine insurance covers the loss or damage of ships, goods or property at sea. It typically compensates the owner of merchandise for losses sustained from fire, shipwreck, etc. , but excludes losses that can be recovered from the carrier. The term abandonment is used to describe the surrender of the ship or goods insured to the insurers, in the case of a constructive total loss of the thing insured.

Origins

The origins of marine insurance law were in the law merchant, with the establishment in England in 1601 of a specialised chamber of assurance separate from the other Courts. Lord Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice in the mid-eighteenth century, began the merging of law merchant and common law principles. The establishment of Lloyd's of London, competitor insurance companies, a developing infrastructure of specialists (such as shipbrokers, admiralty lawyers, and bankers), and the growth of the British Empire gave English law a prominence in this area which it largely maintains and forms the basis of almost all modern practice. +371 7 830 730. The growth of the London insurance market led to the standardisation of policies and judicial precedent further developed marine insurance law. In 1906 the Marine Insurance Act 1906 was passed which codified the previous common law; it is both an extremely thorough and concise piece of work. Although the title of the Act refers to marine insurance, the general principles have been applied to all non-life insurance.

In the 19th. century, Lloyd's and the Institute of London Underwriters (a grouping of London company insurers) developed between them standardised clauses for the use of marine insurance, and these have been maintained since. These are known as the Institute Clauses because the Institute covered the cost of their publication.