A Study On Legal Issues Of Piracy In The Marine Insurance Perspective

Piracy is not a new risk; it has been around ever since there has been maritime trade. Modern maritime piracy is a serious issue and already has a significant influence on shipping industry and marine insurance. This paper aims to summarize the legal issues raised by maritime perils of modern piracy from a theoretical perspective on marine insurance. Further systematic analysis starts from the basic concepts of piracy, combined with the fundamental marine insurance theories and legal practice, especially under common law and relevant regulations, defines the specific meaning of the perils of piracy and other key issues involved. On this basis, this paper puts forward several comprehensive recommendations dealt with maritime piracy risk management under Chinese law and marine insurance area.Besides the Abstract and the Foreword, this paper is constructed by four chapters.The first chapter begins with the concept of act of piracy. It gives an introduction to the subject of marine piracy and how it has developed, identifies the differences between historical and modern piracy in the pattern of behaviors, and reviews the typical characteristics and legal concepts of the act of piracy and piracy itself.The second chapter outlines the specific piracy risks under marine insurance laws and contracts, highlights the basic peculiarities of piracy as a maritime peril through a comparison between related concepts.The third chapter is the core content of this paper. It states that the responsibilities and proportions caused by piracy risks with the insurance implication. This chapter can be divided into three parts and supported by the latest legal precedent each. Firstly, it introduces the basic principles of risk proportions. Secondly, it declares issues as follows, the insured losses and responsibilities under a charterparty, whether or not hijacked by pirates constituted off-hire, the responsibility and burden while the ship is held captive. Finally, it explains the legality, recognition and nature of ransom and the ransom payment, determines the assessment standard for the nature of ransom.Last chapter mainly summarizes legal rules of piracy risks under Chinese law, and focusing in the need of shipping practice, presents a systematic framework-based reasonable solution to the nowadays piracy risks.