On The Causality In Marine Insurance

As we all know, everything in the world is directly or indirectly related. When we try to study the relation between causes and effects, it is very often to find they are so complicated. As far as a specific subject is concerned, not every relation could be the object, and only part of them could be considered.This thesis begins with the concept of causation in philosophy. It has been a long time for this concept being introduced into civil law and then into marine insurance. In the early 19th century, the discussion was focused on the "fault". And with the development of economy and the increasing of industrialization, causation in civil disputes attracted lots of scholars' attention. There are various different opinions about it, but among them, the principle of proximate cause is prevailed in law and practices in marine insurance. And some scholars advocate that the chain of causation can be broken by some events. Then the latter intervene events take the place of the proceeding causes and become proximate cause. This point of view had been criticized for the reason that it might lead the judge to an old fashion, i.e., to adopt the last event in the sequence of causation as the proximate cause.Therefore, the following chapter mainly discusses the background of the principle of proximate cause, and its development. This principle originated from one proverb in ancient law, " Causa Proxima et Non Remota Spectatur". About the word "proxima", there were 2 main opinions. One treated time as the standard to judge which was the proximate cause. The other one advocated regarding the dominant, effective cause as the proximate cause. And the insurer would be responsible to the loss caused by proximate cause. In this chapter, I will try my best to show the theories of causation of different scholars, and how the principle of proximate cause is used in the Leading Cases.How to apply this principle to settle the dispute between the assured and the insurer? The judgments vary according to different judges. In this chapter, the author try to give general ideas about what should be considered when this principle is applied. About the criterion of proximate cause, judges in common law system suggested one "common sense test". In thistest, they advocated that judges should apply common acknowledge of people on the street, while trying to find the proximate cause in the complicated relations between causes and effects.But I have to admit that "Exception Clauses" in the policy can exclude the application of this principle. The parties usually use such words as "arising from", "attributable to" in the what we called "Exception Clauses". When the excluded cause is in the chain of causation, no matter whether it is the proximate one or not, the insurer will not indemnify the loss. Furthermore, when the assured breached the warranties he had made, this principle won't be applied, either. That is to say, even if the insured perils are proximate causes, the insurer will free from indemnifying the loss. And, when loss of time is in the sequence of events, there are some special rules to treat this problem. Usually, the loss following the delay won't be indemnified, even if the delay was caused by insured perils.And in this part, the author tries to compare the different situation in MIA1906 and in Norwegian Marine Insurance Plan. Then discusses the matter brought by the different regulations in marine insurance practice.In Chapter 3, the thesis mainly discusses the onus of proof about causation in marine insurance. This chapter begins with the introduction of the concept of proof, onus of proof in a general way. Then, in marine insurance, the regulations and practice about the balance of probabilities are closely related to the onus of proof of the parties. Some special rules are applied in different circumstances. Taking "missing ship" as an example, even if there is no evidence to prove the occurrence of bad weather, the loss is regarded as being proximately caused by perils of the sea.The last chapter of t...