On The Evolution Of Marine Insurance Orientation By The Study Of Utmost Good Faith Doctrine's Development

The doctrine of Utmost good faith is one of the general principles of marine insurance law.Because of its main contents stipulating the insured's obligations,it is apparently in favor of the insurer.As the main contents of it,the duty of disclosure and warranty system clearly prove it.At the beginning of marine insurance,the insurer,in short of messages,bares high risks to accept insurance.Consequently,the doctrine of Utmost good faith is requested.However,along with the development of the technology and the insurer's accepting insurance skills,the insurer is no longer the weak.The insurer usually pleads that the insured breaches the duty of disclosure.And the warranty system seems to be the insurer's tool to evade his responsibility:the insured could easily be considered at fault and consequently loses his protection of insurance.The duty of disclosure and warranty system make the insured's getting compensation uncertainty.In the end,the severe requirements to the insured are harmful to the insurer.Therefore,the doctrine of Utmost good faith has experienced reform,in accordance with the developments and changes of the economical environment and marine insurance practice. The tendency of them clearly shows the reform the duty of disclosure and warranty system. This thesis emphasizes on discussing the tendency of them,which reveals the evolution of marine insurance orientation.In a historical and comparative way,this thesis tries to make a study on the marine insurance orientation with the purpose of giving some suggestions on the modification of related provisions of the China Maritime Code.This thesis is divided into four chapters except of the introduction and conclusion.This thesis begins with the general introduction of the doctrine of Utmost good faith.Its contents and main changes are introduced.The following chapter mainly discusses the tendency of the duty of disclosure.The main tendency is to mitigate the insured's responsibility.There are two ways.One is giving a new definition of "material information".The other is to introduce subjectivist theory to judge whether the insured breaches the duty of disclosure or not.And judging from the degree of fault,the different legal effects are stipulated.And the legal effect of the insurer's breaching the duty of disclosure has been changed too.The third chapter introduces the changes of warranty system.It shows in two ways:on determination,there are much more strict restrictions:and the serious effect of breaching warranties is softened.The fourth part gives the conclusion:the marine insurance orientation is a gradual transition from emphasizing on the protecting the insurer's rights to the insured's,from efficiency-priority to laying equal stress on fairness and efficiency.The last part puts forward some suggestions with regard to the amendment of the related provisions of the China Maritime Code.