A Study On Warranties In Marine Insurance Law

Warranties in marine insurance were originated from the English marine insurance practice,and it holds an important position therein. In China,warranties are a particular regime only existing in the marine insurance law. However,the concept of warranties is not mentioned by the Chinese Insurance law (CIL) nor the Chinese Maritime Code (CMC). The only provision related to warranties is Art.235 of CMC,which only provides the effect of breach of warranties. This is apparently inappropriate to the important role of it. As a result,many questions concerning it arise in Chinese marine insurance practice and judicial practice.In view of the defect of the Chinese legislation of warranties,the Chinese maritime law scholars were engaged in a fierce discussion about it. The focus was on the following issues:the concept of warranties,the nature of warranties,the effect of breach of warranties,and so on. However,they did not get satisfactory results. In order to solve these problems,this paper first makes a general study of the major legal aspects of warranties in the context of English law,and then advances to clarify the ambiguity of the corresponding Chinese legislation and insurance clauses by reference to the relevant English law and the general principles in Chinese legal system. Furthermore,this paper also makes a study of the reform of warranties in a worldwide view so as to predict the prospective development of it. Finally,this paper provides a draft amendment to the CMC as a conclusion.