The Legal Issues In The Assignment Of Marine Insurance Contract

The assignment of insurance contract is stipulated in article 49 of Insurance Law of the People's Republic of China.The assignment of marine insurance contract is stipulated in article 229 and 230 of CMC(Maritime Code of the People's Republic of China).There are some defects about the assignment of marine insurance contract in Insurance Law of the People's Republic of China and CMC,which cannot deal with the problems arising in practice.The paper analyzes the assignment of marine insurance contract and gives some advice about the amendment of CMC to protect the benefits of the underwriter,the insured and the assignee better.This paper studies the legal issues in the assignment of marine insurance contract,which includes four parts.The first part studies the theoretical fundamental issues and differentiates among the assignment of marine insurance contract,the transfer of the claim for insurance compensation,the transfer of insurable interest and the assignment of the subject matter insured under the policy,which can make us understand the meaning of the assignment of marine insurance contract better.The second part focuses on the theoretical basis of the assignment of marine insurance contract,compares different laws and regulations of other countries,and states relevant current situation of legislation in China.The third part focuses on the legal issues in the assignment of marine cargo insurance contract.It includes if the insured should own insurable interest towards the subject matter insured when he assigns the marine cargo insurance contract;includes how to identify the time point of the assignment of the marine cargo insurance contract;includes situation analysis of the assignment of marine cargo insurance contract under FOB and CIF.The forth part studies the legal issues in the assignment of hull insurance contract.It includes what is the meaning of "the transfer of the ownership of the ship" and "be terminated" in "the contract shall be terminated from the time of the transfer of the ownership of the ship";includes the scope that ship mortgagor,the assignee of the hull insurance contract,acquires the insurance compensation.Besides,this paper proposes some suggestions about amendment of the assignment of marine insurance contract in CMC.After the research,towards marine cargo insurance contract,the author thinks that the insured doesn't have to own insurable interest towards the subject matter insured when he assigns the marine cargo insurance contract.And the time point of the assignment of marine cargo insurance contract is the time of delivery of the subject matter.And the insured can assign the marine cargo insurance contract before the loss of the subject matter or after the loss.And there is no necessary connection between the assignment of marine cargo insurance contract and the transfer of bill of lading or ownership of the vessel.Towards hull insurance contract,"the transfer of the ownership of the ship" in "the contract shall be terminated from the time of the transfer of the ownership of the ship" means the time of delivery of the vessel."Be terminated" means that the contract ends.After the ship mortgagor assigns the hull insurance contract to the ship mortgagee,the insurance compensation which the underwriter pays is in scope of the amount of creditors' rights which the ship mortgagor guaranties.