ABSTRACT
The German Commercial Code of 1867 (Handelsgesetzbuch),35 contains provisions in relation to marine insurance, ss 778-900.36 However, those legal provisions can be contracted out of and, today, have been almost totally superseded by the General Marine Insurance Terms of 1919 (Allgemeine Deutsche Seeversicherungs-Bedingungen, hereinafter quoted simply as ADS 1919).37 The ADS 1919 had been drafted in close co-operation with interested commercial circles (shipowners, traders, insurers, brokers and the Chambers of Commerce in Hamburg and Bremen).38 The ADS 1919 contains both general principles concerning, for example, insurable interest and value, duties of the assured, premium and special provisions for ship’s hull insurance and for cargo insurance. Thus, the ADS 1919 provides a complete regulatory framework for marine insurance and is in harmony with the basic provisions in the German Commercial Code. It is fair to say that the ADS 1919 constitutes a complete contractual codex for marine insurance, on the basis of the German Commercial Code. The ADS 1919 has, in turn, again been largely superseded by newer special standard conditions for hull and machinery, as well as for marine cargo insurance. Therefore, the importance of the ADS 1919, today, only lies in the fact that they contain the general basic principles of marine insurance.
