Study On The Interpretation Method Of Commercial Insurance Contract

The interpretation of contract cannot be separated from the application of methods.Article 125 of The Contract Law is the only article in the current civil legislation that focuses on the interpretation of contract.It directly provides five interpretation methods:literal interpretation,system interpretation,purpose interpretation,custom interpretation,and good faith interpretation,which are applicable to all kinds of civil contracts.However,there is no clear stipulation in the legislation on how to use these interpretation methods in different types or fields of civil contracts(such as insurance contracts).Commercial insurance is an imortant part of modern economy.Its main function is to compensate for people's physical and property losses and enterprise production and operation losses in case of unforeseen risk accidents such as natural disasters,accidents,and breach of contracts,so as to improve the overall risk resistance of the society.Due to the particularity,diversity,and public welfare of commercial insurance contracts,Many factors needs to be taken into account in the application of contract interpretation,including insurance principles and professional terms,proof and examination of contract materials,trade practices,and protection of the legitimate rights and interests of insurance consumers,which is quite different from civil contracts in other fields.In judicial practices,all parties involved in commercial insurance contract disputes interpret contract terms mainly based on their own interests.When judges use the five methods of contract interpretation to judge cases,they do not have the legal basis that can be directly quoted about how to use the interpretation methods.They can only rely on their mastery of the theory of contract interpretation and practice in similar cases,which is easy to judge?There are many problems,such as disputes,unconvincing judgments,and different judg,ents on similar cases.In the theoretical research,there are many researches on the application of the five interpretation methods,but there are few researches on how to use the five interpretation methods in the specific contract field(especially in the commercial insurance contract field).Based on the practical needs of judicial practice and the lack of theoretical research,it is urgent to systematically sort out the interpretation methods of commercial insurance contracts,study the specific application rules and main interpretation functions of the five interpretation methods,explore the comprehensive application of various methods,and find the path of complex interpretation results.In view of the particularity of commercial insurance contract,the text interpretation method is mainly based on the professional nature of commercial insurance principles and terms to solve the conflict between the general understanding by the public and professional understanding.The key point of application is to determine the standard of text understanding,such as based on the literal meaning or the standard of insurance terms.The method of system interpretation is mainly based on the diversity of contract parties,to solve the conflict between different contract parties,different contract terms and different legal policies.The focus of application is to determine the scope of the system.The purpose interpretation method is mainly based on the public welfare of insurance products,which is used to solve the conflict between different contract purposes,with the focus on the purpose of the contract.The method of customary interpretation is mainly based on insurance principles and trading habits,which is used to solve the problem of conflict between maintaining the normal trading order of insurance market and protecting the interests of vulnerable parties.It focuses on the argumentation of insurance principles and the discovery of habits.The method of good faith interpretation is mainly based on the common information asymmetry in insurance transactions,which is used to solve the huge differences in professional experience between the two parties of the contract,ensure the justness and fairness of the interpretation results of the contract,and focus on the specific identification of the applicable conditions of the relevant interlpretation rules,such as how to determine whether the insurer's various explanatory acts of the exemption clauses meet such legal requirements as "Clear description" standard and others.The interpretation of commercial insurance contract cannot be accomplished by one single interpretation method,instead,it necessitates the integration of a variety of-interpretation methods.In the process of comprehensive application,the five interpretation methods are not universally applicable and are not completely fixed in rank or order of application,but for diferent types of contract terms,there are some general order of application and exclusion rules,which can be refined and applied.At present,there is no clear classification of the terms of commercial insurance contracts in legislation,and the academic classification cannot meet the needs of contract interpretation.In the context of contract interpretation,the terms should be reclassified from the perspective of the comprehensive application of interpretation methods and the choice of interpretation results,including format terms,agreed terms and model terms.On the basis of re classification,the paper explores the law of comprehensive application of the inherent interpretation methods of different types of clauses.After the comprehensive application of interpretation methods,if there are still difficulties in choosing from a complex number of interpretation results,different theories or models should be used for selection for different types of terms.For exanple,the format terms should adopt adverse interpretation results,and the agreed terms need to carry out interest measurement theory.The whole process of commercial insurance contract interpretation needs the participation of j udges and all parties,and also needs to restrict all parties.The application of interpretation method needs to abide by the procedure of litigation,distribute the burden of proof reasonably according to law,and the judge needs to make adequate arguments on the comprehensive application of interpretation method and the adoption of interpretation conclusion.The introduction of the essay describes the research background,research approach,research methods,literature review and other contents.Theoretical research focuses more on the application of single or multiple interpretation methods in civil contracts,but less on the application in specific fields or types of contracts,especially in the interpretation of commercial insurance contracts.The first chapter aims to study the basic theories and legislative provisions related to the interpretation methods of commercial insurance contracts.The interpretation method of insurance contract comes from the method of contract interpretation.This chapter first introduces the basic theory of contract interpretation method,studies the necessity,connotation and value of contract interpretation,and then discusses the relationship between the method and principles and rules of contract interpretation.Secondly,it studies the particularity of the commercial insurance contract.The interpretation of the commercial insurance contract and the interpretation of the contract have a succession relationship,but in the subject and object,they are quite different from other civil contracts.Thirdly,this paper makes a comparative study on the interpretation methods of commercial insurance contracts,including exploration of the parties' true meaning,system interpretation,custom interpretation and good faith interpretation in the countries of civil law system,as well as the interpretation methods of intention,justice and context in the countries of common law system The application of these interpretation methods can be used for reference in the study of the interpretation methods of commercial insurance contracts in China.Finally,the paper studies the interpretation methods of commercial insurance contract in the theoretical research and legislative provisions of our country.The contract interpretation methods are concentrated in Article 125 of The Contract Law,which are also applicable to commercial insurance contracts and have special application in this contract field.Chapter two to chapter six respectively study the application of five interpretation methods of commercial insurance contract.This paper mainly studies the basic theory,value basis,applicable conditions,problems in application,and improvement measures of the five interpretation methods.Literal interpretation has priority,which is often the first interpretation method to apply.There are still some deviations from the general understanding of the public in terms of professional terms interpretation and other aspects,so it is necessary to standardize the use of literal interpretation methods.The reference materials for system interpretation are diverse,;from other terms of the contract to other contract materials such as insurance policy and temporary insurance policy,from evidence materials such as fax mail to industry specifications,etc.,all need to be considered comprehensively,which can also be used as reference materials for the application of system interpretation methods.Purpose method of interpretation focuses on the purpose of the parties concerned,the third party outside the contract(such as the injured in the traffic accident),the legislative purpose of relevant laws and regulations,the policy and regulation purpose of the regulatory authorities,etc.,so as to obtain fair and just interpretation results from the Perspective of interest measurement.Favorable interpretation rule is a well-known interpretation rule in commercial insurance contract.It is for the purpose of protecting the legitimate rights and interests of insurance consumers in The Insurance Law.It belongs to the category of purpose interpretation method and is widely used in practice.The scientific understanding of common understanding,the connection with literal interpretation,and the assurance of the legitimate interests of insurance consumers are important in standardizing the use of favorable interpretation rules.The method of habitual interpretation focuses on discovering and following established practices and forming trading habits.In the market transaction of autonomy of will,the practice of eliminating other practices can be generally recognized,which shows that it has certain rationality and social basis,and conforms to the current economic and social development context.The focus of the customary interpretation method is to examine the trading habits of the insurance industry,as well as other trade habits related to insurance contracts,such as the habits of the international logistics liability insurance industry;at the same time,the specific trading habits formed in the historical transactions by individual parties who have signed similar insurance contracts for a long time should be considered.The method of good faith interpretation is a very important one in commercial insurance contract.It is mainly based on the principle of the greatest good faith in the field of insurance recognized by the theorists.Its three rules of interpretation are clearly stipulated in The Insurance Law and are not applicable to other civil contracts other than commercial insurance.The insurer clearly states that the rules,abstention and estoppel reflect the inclined protection of insurance consumers,which is a rational response to the information asymmetry situation of the commercial insurance contract;the policy holder truthfully informs that the rules are the restraint to the insurance consumers,mainly in order to avoid the moral risk,which aims to maintain the market order and public order and good customs of commercial insurance.The seventh chapter aims to study the comprehensive application of five interpretation methods and the determination of interpretation conclusion.There is no fixed order or applicable rank in the application of the five interpretation methods of commercial insurance contract;interpretation method can vary with actual situation of cases and thus a comprehensive application is essential.However,for different types of contract terms,there are some laws of comprehensive application,which need to optimize the classification of the original contract terms.The insurance contract terms are divided into standard terms,agreed terms and model terms,and then the comprehensive application of different interpretation methods and the selection of plural interpretation results are studied.If the standard terms need to be selected by adverse interpretation,the agreed terms need to be selected by the theory of interest measurement.For the standard application of interpretation methods and the choice of interpretation results,we need standard litigation procedures and full argumentation to determine the interpretation conclusion,so as to form a complete and scientific application system of interpretation methods.