ABSTRACT
The UK Marine Insurance Act 1906 (MIA) is said to be a restatement of the law
of marine insurance as applied in both continental Europe and the British Empire
as at the 1870s and 1880s.1
The MIA remains the basic law on marine insurance for the common law
world although, in recent years, some jurisdictions (such as Australia) proposed
reforms in this area of law and practice.2 By virtue of s. 17 of the MIA, a contract
for marine insurance is a contract based on the utmost good faith (uberrima fi des)
and either the insurer or the assured may avoid the contract if the other party does
not observe the utmost good faith.
