On The Insurance Law Of The Obligation

Insurance is one of the most important economic systems. Only after risks wereassessed and estimated, can the insurer decide whether to underwrite and what theinsurance premium rate is. Therefore, the applicants' disclosure duty is provided inInsurance Law.The legal issues relating to duty of disclosure are discussed in this paper. The writeruses the insurance legislations and the justice practice of other countries for referenceand puts forward some suggestions on how to revise the relevant provisions in theInsurance Law of China. A new vision angle is tried to open up and a cut-in point onhow to perfect the insurance legislations in China is provided in this paper.The subject of disclosure duty includes applicant (the party of insurance contract),insured, deputy of applicant and original insurer. The scope of disclosure is limited tomaterial facts relating to subject matter of the insurance. The obligor is exemptedfrom the obligation over the facts unasked by the insurer and knowns orshould-knows. The violation requirements of disclosure duty should be satisfied bytwo key requirements: subjective key requirement (The obligor violated the obligationwith deliberate intention or mass negligence) and objective key requirement (Theobligor failed to disclose the material facts). If obligors violated the obligation,insurers will be entitled to rescind insurance contracts, but this right is confined by ascheduled period.The 17th article of the Insurance Law of China, which provides the duty of disclosure,is far from perfect. So the following revisions are proposed in this paper: 1.to set upinsurers' accounting duty and applicants' duty of disclosure separately;2.to completethe provisions of the subject of disclosure duty;3.to exempt obligors' duty ofdisclosure under given conditions;4.to confined the subjective key requirement of theviolation to deliberate intention and mass negligence;5.to provide that there areconsequence between the happening of insurance accident and the material factswhich was not disclosed by the obligor;6.to provide a scheduled period of insurers'right of rescinding insurance contracts.