ABSTRACT
Certain aspects of ‘insurance warranties’ have been the main topic of numerous debates over the years. Particularly, the pleas of the assured for a more equitable legal regime have activated the Law Commission to prepare a report highlighting defects of the present legal regime and requesting Parliament to adopt legislation in this area which distributes the rights and obligations of parties fairly.1 The striking point of this report is the exclusion of marine insurance from the scope of possible reform in this area.2 According to the Law Commission, it would be clearly undesirable to disturb the basis of legal certainty in English law by making substantial changes to the Marine Insurance Act (MIA) 1906, in view of London’s position as a leading centre for marine insurance in a competitive international market. The Law Commission was also of the opinion that marine insurance contracts are generally effected by ‘professionals’ – that is to say, persons whose everyday business dealings involve the making and carrying out of insurance contracts – so they can be reasonably expected to be aware of the niceties of insurance law.
