Research on open covers in English law of marine insurance

Abstract

Open covers have been widely deployed in the London marineinsurance market for many years, even though a significant number of legalissues arising out of their use still needs to be resolved. Not surprisingly,the law concerning open covers is very much alive and open to furtherdevelopment. Given that, quite remarkably, no research study has been donespecifically on those particular covers to date; this thesis is aimed at makinggood that deficiency. To ensure that observation is made over the whole picturein respect of the open covers and to produce a comprehensive guide to the legalcomplexity arising out of the association between them and their subsequentindividual declarations, the complete thesis will comprise five chapters:

Chapter 1 will provide historical information anddevelopment background of open covers and also will set out the maindifferences in the operation of floating policies and open covers which werederived originally from the former. Chapter 2 will illustrate (1) how and whythe legal nature of an open cover impacts on the parties' rights, obligations,privileges and immunities, and (2) how and why the formation of an open coverplays a key role in the determination of proper nature. Chapter 3 will shedlight on the applicability of the duty of utmost good faith to open covers byexplaining the doctrine of utmost good faith within the general law ofinsurance and then clarifying whether the duty is enforceable pertaining to thecovers themselves or only pertaining to subsequent policies individually.Chapter 4 will explore the agency status of insurance brokers in the context ofopen covers. To this end, it focuses, first, upon giving the general definitionof insurance broking, secondly, describing the use and performance of thebrokers in the procurement process, currency and claims process of open covers,and lastly the measure of damages recoverable from the brokers. Chapter 5 willdiscuss conflict of laws in open covers, and in particular problems ofjurisdiction and choice of law where the open cover and declarations under itare potentially governed by different regimes. Finally, the legal and practicalissues that have been identified, and their suggested solutions will besummarised in the conclusion.

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