Legal Study Upon The Insurer's Defense Against Maritime Claim On Ship-Source Pollution

Once an accident of ship-source pollution happens, interests of many parties will be seriously influenced and a huge claim will follow. The insurer, as one of the most important parties in the legal relation of the indemnification of pollution, whether and how much he is obliged to compensate needs to be ascertained according to particular law.We now do not have a sound legal system on pollution from ships, different sources of which can't justifiably connect well and even contradict each other. This makes the circles of law experts; interest parties and jurisdictions have totally different and changeable attitudes towards the problem. The unclearness of law and uncertainness of law application surely will make the right and obligation of the parties unclear and uncertain. It's not difficult to image that the space of insurer's defense to reject to pay completely or partly would be very wide. This paper mainly analyzes the insurer's right to defense, and the preservation of it under the present legal system, and also analyzes the possible problems under the legal framework of HNS and Bunker Convention at the same time. Besides, in the field of ship-source pollution, defense is not only the insurer's right; sometimes it's also an obligation that the insurer must cautiously carry out. The insurer who fails to perform the obligation must shoulder corresponding liability.In a word, the problem of insurer's defense obviously exists in the field of compensation of ship-source pollution. If we could have a delicate device of law through which the insurer could fully show its experiences and advantages whether in direct or in non-direct action, doubtlessly, it is beneficial for the protection of the insurer's interests. This paper attempts to find the device by suggesting the insurer to insert some relevant articles of duty to defense into the insurance policy.