ABSTRACT
Lord Hoffmann, in the House of Lords decision in Charter Reinsurance Co. Ltd v Fagan, commented on the inherent difficulties of interpreting language when attempting to determine the contractual intention of the parties. In addition to loss being suffered within the wording of the policy, the insured must satisfy certain contractual requirements in order to present a valid claim. In accordance with the Marine Insurance Act, a warranty in insurance law is a statement, description or undertaking on the part of the insured contractually relating to the risk insured against. Generally an affirmative warranty arises out of information supplied in the proposal form and made the basis of contract. Judges have used the description ‘condition’ when actually referring to statements that in substance conform to the requirements of a ‘warranty,’ and as Birds observes, ‘even terms that are similar in nature have attracted different appellations and different legal consequences in decided cases.’.
