Study Of Pre-contract Duty Of Information Supplying In Marine Insurance

Before the contract is concluded,the parties to the contract of Marine insurance have the duties to supply information which the counterparty has less knowledge of,it is called the duty of information-supplying.According to the principle of "buyer beware" of contract law,the law generally will not add compulsory force of information-supplying duty to the parties to a contract.But in case of insurance contract,the law stipulates the insurer and insured to undertake the obligation to provide information.This is determined by the nature of the insurance contract and contracting parties' unbalanced status of information.Insurance contract is aleatory contract,the insured pays premium for consideration of acquiring insurance compensation which depends on whether insurance accident happened.It increases the moral hazard so that the contracting parties are required to undertake higher duty of good faith.In addition,the insurance contracting parties have unbalanced information status.In Marine insurance,information imbalance phenomenon is more prominent.On the one hand,special geographical and natural environment makes maritime risk greater than the risk of the land,and the subject matter is often the ship,cargo,freight,legal responsibility or a combination of economic rights and interests,information is more complicated.The insured holds more information of the subject matter than the insurer.Insurance contract,on the other hand,is usually the format contract with professional insurance terms and navigation knowledge.The insured who lack of professional knowledge is often confused about the format contract terms.Regulations of the contracting information-supplying duty in Chinese Maritime Code is not impeccable.Firstly,it is unable to balance the interests of the insurer and insured.Secondly,Chinese Maritime Code and Insurance law are not harmonious when they are applied.From the point of the world,British Marine Insurance Act 1906 is regarded as a sample of the Marine insurance law by many countries,Chinese Maritime Code is no exception.In 2015,the British insurance law had significant changes and new insurance law was introduced.The law reflects the advanced experience of international legislation of Marine insurance,undoubtedly has a high reference value.Except the Anglo-American law system which is represented by British law,the representative counties' legislation of continental law system also has a certain reference significance.This article attempts to expound and analyze the relevant regulations of contracting information-supplying duty of Marine insurance contract in Chinese Marine Code and Insurance Law,poingting out the existing problems and puting forward measures to perfect our legislation based on the introduction of advanced legislative experience abroad.This article is divided into four parts.The first part is the theoretical basis of contracting information-supplying duty of Marine insurance contract.Second part is the insured's duty of contracting information-supplying and insurance legislation and development abroad.The third part is the insurer's duty of contracting information-supplying and legislation abroad.The last part is to put forward suggestions to perfect our Marine insurance legislation.