Research On Identification Of Insurable Interest In Marine Cargo Insurance In Judicial Practice In China

Originating from maritime insurance for a long time of history, insurable interest has become a very important basic principle in the contracts of various types of insurance. Since the earliest definition of insurable interest in the 1906 English Maritime Law, insurable interest has gone through typical cases over centuries and the perfecting of insurance legislation of different countries, with a variety of schools of opinions formed, which were mostly represented by Anglo-American law systems and continental law system, and was significantly differentially applied in the insurance practice around the world. Maritime cargo insurance is one type of property insurance and naturally, it cannot be separated from insurable interest. Since insurable interest constitutes the soul and heart of maritime insurance, so without insurable interest, there is no way for compensation, which is an important principle in the maritime law system. Compared with the general property insurance, the insurable interest in maritime cargo insurance involves complex problems and is characteristic of multi-national and risky elements with multiple main bodies, contractual relationship and the application of U.N.CCIGS and INCOTERMS entailed. The issue of insurable interest in maritime insurance, especially within the trade terms of FOB, CFR and CIF, is of typical importance in the theoretical study and practical operation. As the principle of insurable interest has not established for a long time in China and because of character of being professional and independent, the study on insurable interest has not been carried out soundly and there has not been perfected legislation, leading to ineffectiveness in solving the disputes concerning insurable interest in the real practice. Meanwhile, the stiff reference to the legislative regulation of other countries and blind combined application of U.N.CCIGS and INCOTERMS will result in many problems. So, it is of imperative need to perfect the definition of insurable interest in China’s maritime insurance, constitutive requirements and the identification of insurable interest in world trade.In addition to the introduction and conclusion, this article is divided into four parts.In the first part, the paper gives a brief introduction to the origin of insurance interest, examples of the legal provisions on insurable interest and discusses the insurable interest principles adopted by countries of different legal systems.In the second part, is the elaborate of the insurable interest in maritime cargo insurance in which the author analyzes the distinctiveness of interest of maritime cargo insurance from that of the general property insurance from the perspectives of the definition and constitutive requirements and states the differentiated law models in which the insurable interest of maritime cargo insurance is defined in different period of international trade.The third part is the key part of the paper which discusses the definition of insurable interest of maritime cargo insurance in the practice of justice in China, combined with the related cases that illustrate the judicial practice of China in terms of trade and price conditions under the influence, the principle of legal interest, risk burden as the judgment standard and the confirmation mode of insurance interest under the strict insurance interest principle, and one by one analysis of the four cases, through the current law of China, to identify shortcomings of insurable interest.The fourth part puts forward some legislative proposal in regard to the defects existing in the cognizance of maritime insurable interest in the practice of justice in China.