Rules of causation under marine insurance law from the perspective of marine risks and losses

Abstract

Causation is a crucial issue in ascertaining whether certain loss or damage is covered in an insurance policy. Although marine insurance is well-known for investigating the “proximate” cause of loss in order to determine the insurers’ liability, decisions by English courts are far from reconcilable. The problem has been suggested to be the inference of matters of fact, and consequently, causal connection is deemed as a complex and uncertain issue.

In the light of incoherency and uncertainty of law in this respect, the value of this research lies in the effort to conceptualize and develop a set of consistent causation rules in the marine insurance context and to explore how perils themselves would affect the formation and application of causation rules. Essentially, the proximate cause in law should not remain as a mere open question of fact.

In order to achieve the merits, this dissertation scrutinises the causation theory itself and also the correlations between the perils involved in the policy. Introduction presents the legal problem of causation in marine insurance law and stresses the importance of setting up coherent and certain rules. The research on the pure causation theory consists of two chapters: Chapter One regarding the test of causation, i.e. the doctrine of proximity; and Chapter Two on concurrent causes. The subsequent three chapters concentrate on identifying the cause of loss from the nature and concepts of different marine risks. Chapter Three introduces marine perils and examines how causation rules apply in the case of a few typical insured and uninsured perils; Chapter Four and Chapter Five are concerned with exclusive researches on inherent vice and seaworthiness respectively. Apart from the substantive analysis on causation, burden of proof is addressed in the last chapter. Finally, the Conclusion provides a summary of the issues and the set of causation rules.

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