The Research On Exclusions In Marine Insurance

Exclusions, as the shield of marine insurer, plays a critical role in defining the scope of cover in marine insurance, which gives exclusions great significance in determining insurer’s liability. Under the premise of the validity of exclusions, it is important to make it exert its role. Based on the legislation and judicial practice of maritime insurance, this article will discuss how exclusions play a role in the recognition of causes of loss and the identification of insurer’s liability.This article includes four parts. The first part is a general overview of marine insurance exclusions, including the particularity of exclusions in marine insurance, the differences between exclusions and other similar concepts, etc. This part aims to define the meaning and scope of the research object. The second part is the analysis of marine insurance exclusion itself. It is mainly to probe into the causal relationship between exclusions and loss to the subject matter insured, in order to find out the conditions of exclusion. There are two specific questions:what kind of exclusions should apply the principle of causation and what kind of causation should they apply. The third part is about the relationship between exclusions and inured risks. To be specific, it is about the conflicts that may exist between exclusions and risks inured against, and the difficulty that brings with them regarding the identification of insurer’s liability. According to source and timing, the conflicts can be divided into two aspects:one is due to the overlap of scope of excluded and included perils in marine insurance contract, and the second is due to the dilemma when both conditions of exclusion and insured risk are satisfied in judicial practice. To eliminate the conflict, this paper will go through the cases to summarize the most reasonable solutions under different circumstances of the conflicts. The fourth part is to provide some valuable suggestions with regard to the marine insurance legislation and practice, based on the above analysis and conclusion.