History
Maritime insurance was the earliest well-developed kind of insurance, with origins in the Greek and Roman maritime loan. Separate marine insurance contracts were developed in Genoa and other Italian cities in the fourteenth century and spread to northern Europe. Premiums varied with intuitive estimates of the variable risk from seasons and pirates. Modern marine insurance law originated in the Lex mercatoria (law merchant). In 1601, a specialized chamber of assurance separate from the other Courts was established in England. By the end of the seventeenth century, London's growing importance as a centre for trade was increasing demand for marine insurance. In the late 1680s, Edward Lloyd opened a coffee house on Tower Street in London. It soon became a popular haunt for ship owners, merchants, and ships' captains, and thereby a reliable source of the latest shipping news.
Lloyd's Coffee House was the first marine insurance market. It became the meeting place for parties in the shipping industry wishing to insure cargoes and ships, and those willing to underwrite such ventures. These informal beginnings led to the establishment of the insurance market Lloyd's of London and several related shipping and insurance businesses. The participating members of the insurance arrangement eventually formed a committee and moved to the Royal Exchange on Cornhill as the Society of Lloyd's. The establishment of insurance companies, a developing infrastructure of specialists (such as ship brokers, admiralty lawyers, bankers, surveyors, loss adjusters, general average adjusters, et al.), 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. Lord Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice in the mid-eighteenth century, began the merging of law merchant and common law principles. The growth of the London insurance market led to the standardization of policies and judicial precedent further developed marine insurance law. In 1906 the Marine Insurance Act 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 standardized 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. Out of marine insurance, grew non-marine insurance and reinsurance. Marine insurance traditionally formed the majority of business underwritten at Lloyd's. Nowadays, Marine insurance is often grouped with Aviation and Transit (cargo) risks, and in this form is known by the acronym 'MAT'.
Practice
The Marine Insurance Act includes, as a schedule, a standard policy (known as the "SG form"), which parties were at liberty to use if they wished. Because each term in the policy had been tested through at least two centuries of judicial precedent, the policy was extremely thorough. However, it was also expressed in rather archaic terms. In 1991, the London market produced a new standard policy wording known as the MAR 91 form using the Institute Clauses. The MAR form is simply a general statement of insurance; the Institute Clauses are used to set out the detail of the insurance cover. In practice, the policy document usually consists of the MAR form used as a cover, with the Clauses stapled to the inside. Typically, each clause will be stamped, with the stamp overlapping both onto the inside cover and to other clauses; this practice is used to avoid the substitution or removal of clauses.because marine insurance is typically underwritten on a subscription basis, the MAR form begins: We, the Underwriters, agree to bind ourselves each for his own part and not one for another. In legal terms, liability under the policy is several and not joint, i.e., the underwriters are all liable together, but only for their share or proportion of the risk. If one underwriter should default, the remainder are not liable to pick his share of the claim. Typically, marine insurance is split between the vessels and the cargo. Insurance of the vessels is generally known as "Hull and Machinery" (H&M). A more restricted form of cover is "Total Loss Only" (TLO), generally used as a reinsurance, which only covers the total loss of the vessel and not any partial loss. Cover may be on either a "voyage" or "time" basis. The "voyage" basis covers transit between the ports set out in the policy; the "time" basis covers a period, typically one year, and is more common.
Protection and indemnity
A marine policy typically covered only three-quarter of the insured's liabilities towards third parties. The typical liabilities arise in respect of collision with another ship, known as "running down" (collision with a fixed object is a "harbour"), and wreck removal (a wreck may serve to block a harbour, for example). In the 19th century, shipowners banded together in mutual underwriting clubs known as Protection and Indemnity Clubs (P&I), to insure the remaining one-quarter liability amongst themselves. These Clubs are still in existence today and have become the model for other specialized and noncommercial marine and non-marine mutual, for example in relation to oil pollution and nuclear risks. Clubs work on the basis of agreeing to accept a shipowner as a member and levying an initial "call" (premium). With the fund accumulated, reinsurance will be purchased; however, if the loss experience is unfavorable one or more "supplementary calls" may be made. Clubs also typically try to build up reserves, but this puts them at odds with their mutual status.Because liability regimes vary throughout the world, insurers are usually careful to limit or exclude American Jones Act liability.
Specialist policies
Various specialist policies exist, including:
- New-building risks: This covers the risk of damage to the hull while it is under construction.
- Open Cargo or Shipper’s Interest Insurance: This policy may be purchased by a carrier, freight broker, or shipper, as coverage for the shipper’s goods. In the event of loss or damage, this type of insurance will pay for the true value of the shipment, rather than only the legal amount that the carrier is liable for.
- Yacht Insurance: Insurance of pleasure craft is generally known as "yacht insurance" and includes liability coverage. Smaller vessels such as yachts and fishing vessels are typically underwritten on a "binding authority" or "lineslip" basis.
- War risks: General hull insurance does not cover the risks of a vessel sailing into a war zone. A typical example is the risk to a tanker sailing in the Persian Gulf during the Gulf War. The war risks areas are established by the London-based Joint War Committee, which has recently moved to include the Malacca Straits as a war risks area due to piracy. If an attack is classified as a "riot" then it would be covered by war-risk insurers.
- Increased Value (IV): Increased Value cover protects the shipowner against any difference between the insured value of the vessel and the market value of the vessel.
- Overdue insurance: This is a form of insurance now largely obsolete due to advances in communications. It was an early form of reinsurance and was bought by an insurer when a ship was late at arriving at her destination port and there was a risk that she might have been lost (but, equally, might simply have been delayed). The overdue insurance of the Titanic was famously underwritten on the doorstep of Lloyd's.
- Cargo insurance: Cargo insurance is underwritten on the Institute Cargo Clauses, with coverage on an A, B, or C basis, A having the widest cover and C the most restricted. Valuable cargo is known as specie. Institute Clauses also exist for the insurance of specific types of cargo, such as frozen food, frozen meat, and particular commodities such as bulk oil, coal, and jute. Often these insurance conditions are developed for a specific group as is the case with the Institute Federation of Oils, Seeds and Fats Associations (FOFSA) Trades Clauses which have been agreed with the Federation of Oils, Seeds and Fats Associations and Institute Commodity Trades Clauses which are used for the insurance of shipments of cocoa, coffee, cotton, fats and oils, hides and skins, metals, oil seeds, refined sugar, and tea and have been agreed with the Federation of Commodity Associations.
See also
- History of insurance
- Classification society
- Legal definitions of wreckage
- Inland marine insurance
- Seaworthiness (law)
External links
- UK case relating to legal definitions (The No. 1 Dae Bu)
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