ABSTRACT
The Marine Insurance Act 1906 provides that the adventure insured must be prosecuted with reasonable despatch and in the absence of a lawful excuse, the insurer is discharged from liability when the voyage is not so prosecuted. This chapter analyses firstly the common law origins of the sections with a particular focus on the concept of alteration of the risk initially undertaken by the insurer and secondly the criteria in determining whether a delay is unreasonable. It assesses whether the entry into force of the Insurance Act 2015 would affect in any way the operation of s 48. The chapter focuses on the inter-relations of ss 48 and 49 with standard market terms currently used in the insurance market, particularly with the Institute Cargo Clauses. In most of the pre-MIA cases on delay and deviation involving policies which contained clauses granting liberty to deviate, delay amounting to deviation was often considered within the scope of the liberty clause.
