Issues Of Insurable Interest In Marine Insurance

The insurable interest doctrine originated in the Marine Insurance Act, its original purpose is to prevent gambling and moral hazard. With the passage of time, the insurable interest doctrine gradually developed into one of the fundamental principles of insurance law. Since the date of birth, due to the inherent uncertainty of the insurable interest doctrine, the debate about the connotation and recognized standards of the doctrine has never stopped. In recent years, the debate has become more and more intense since the theory of the abolition of the insurable interest doctrine generated. Combined with relevant cases as well as legislation in different countries, this article analyzes the inherent problems and the reasons why the scholars advocated the abolition of this doctrine on the basic of study on the origin and development process of the insurable interest doctrine. At the same time, it describes the changing process of the insurable interest doctrine with typical cases, which developed from "Legal Interest" theory to "Factual Expectancy" theory. And it also points out the deep-seated reasons behind the controversy caused by the doctrine. In addition, it indicates how to achieve the initial and realistic legislative purpose on two different situations on the basis of the analysis of the advantages and disadvantages. After this it provides some recommendations for legislative changes in China.This article is divided into five parts. The first part is to set forth the basic content of insurable interest doctrine, including its origin, purpose and implication, connotation as well as national legislation. By the contrast analysis, it describes the difference of definition and criteria between different countries. According to this, it points out the dispute of insurable interest doctrine and tries to provide a guideline to judge whether it is necessary for the existence of this doctrine and how to solve the dispute.The second part describes the changing process of the insurable interest doctrine from "Legal Interest" theory to "Factual Expectancy" theory with typical cases such as Le Cras v. Hughes and Lucena v Craufurd. It also analyzes the controversy and development trend from the origins of the two theories. In this process, it focuses on this two different theoretical views and their respective advantages and disadvantages, especially the problems in the practice of maritime transport of goods. In addition, in view of the drawbacks of this doctrine, this part also gives a brief introduction about the theory of the abolition of insurable interest doctrine.The third part introduces the problems and relevant improvement measures about the insurable interest doctrine in the theory and practice. At the same time, it points out that the insurable interest doctrine causes so many problems because of the uncertainty of its connotation and the causal relationship with preventing moral hazard. To deal with these problems, it puts forward some improvement measures, for example, a clearer doctrine or more obligations and responsibilities for the insurers. The above measures may achieve the desired effect to some extent, but the non-thoroughgoing causes that it is impossible to solve the problems fundamentally.The fourth part focuses on the theory of the abolition of the insurable interest doctrine and some corresponding alternatives. By a preliminary analysis of the feasibility of the theory of abolition, it generalizes the problems which must be solved after the abolition, and tries to find out some suitable alternatives such as refining defined criteria, loss compensation principle and establishing a mechanism for self-prevention of insurers. After a detailed description of the alternatives, it wants to analyze the respective feasibility of each alternative and provide a complete measure for a better transition after the abolition.The fifth part describes the current insurable legislation in China, especially the marine insurance and its future development trend.Meanwhile, it also gives some suggestions about the key issues of changes of Insurance Law in China, for instance, abolish the insurable interest doctrine or not,how to achieve the purpose of legislation better and so on. At present, China should retain the insurable interest doctrine, introduce some alternatives gradually, revise the alternatives constantly in practice, and achieve the transition from the insurable interest doctrine to the alternatives finally.