AbstractsLaw & Legal Studies

Analysis and presentation of this thesis is supported by studies of many relevant cases where the major arguments are set around the exclusion clauses concerning the ‘all risks cover’ policy as found in Institute Cargo Clauses. Two cases are especially emphasized, namely Mayban General Assurance BHD v. Alstom Power Plants Ltd. and Global Process Systems Inc v. Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad , mainly because of the special nature of the subject matter insured in these cases. The legal issues arising from claims of loss during sea transportation of large technical equipments turn out to be complicated and might lead to different application of the law due to the special nature of the subject-matter insured. All risks insurance policies have many exclusion clauses expressly listed, however, most arguments about liabilities for damage to large equipments arise from application of these two clauses, namely inherent vice and improper or insufficient packaging. Inherent vice as well as insufficiency or improper packing are both exclusion clauses for insurer's liability under an all risk insurance policy. Different interpretation of the terms themselves might lead to different judgements regarding liability. Thus identifying the sources of such terms in different legislative works becomes very important. More often than not, the causes of such types of loss are complicated and involve mutual interaction between causes, and so it is necessary to discuss how the exclusion clauses are applied as well as their interactions. In practice, damage from inherent vice can and often will develop with the assistance of a fortuitous external circumstance such as harsh weather conditions which, if qualified as a peril of the sea and considered the sole proximate cause of the loss, could guarantee the insurance cover, even if inherent vice is an excluded clause in the all risks cover policy. It is very important to discuss the causational link between perils and losses, to identify the proximate causes to the loss and to discuss the insurance cover under situations where concurrent proximate causes of similar efficiency contribute to a loss. The purpose of this thesis is to make a presentation of these two exclusion clauses for ‘all risks’ insurance cover under British marine cargo insurance policy and discuss their application in previous cases. Frequent reference to the Marine Insurance Act 1906 and the Institute Cargo Clauses will be found in this thesis. There will also be found a discussion from perspectives of British maritime legislation, Norwegian maritime legislation, as well as Chinese Maritime legislation. At the end of this thesis, I’d like to enclose a simple legislative comparison between British marine cargo insurance and Chinese PICC insurance policy, through which a better understanding of different approaches for solutions under different jurisdiction will be gained.