Comparative marine insurance law: Highlighting the significant features of marine insurance law in Belgium and other selected European legal systems

Abstract

Modern Marine Insurance Law came into being when Pope Gregory IX issued a papal decree in 1227 AD prohibiting the shipping loan, which forced merchants to find other ways to spread the risks normally connected with the maritime adventure. For a good overview of the doctrine of “utmost good faith” in marine insurance law on the continent, we refer to Alexander Von Ziegler. In civil law all contracts are rooted on “good faith”. The issue of causation in marine insurance is another major divide between common law countries and countries of the continental legal culture. Professor Ralph de Wit has pointed out that there is no general theory of causation in continental law, meaning that each legal system entertains its own view. Belgium, however, has another approach to the issue of causation, applying the theory of the “equivalence des conditions”, or the “theory of the equivalent causes”.