The Utmost Good Faith in Maritime Insurance: The Nature

Abstract

The Marine Insurance Act 2015 (UK) marked the start of a contemporary period for insurance law because the Act improved the regime for the duty of good faith by transitioning to the duty of fair presentation from traditional doctrines of utmost good faith in the Marine Insurance Act 1906 in the UK. While the obligation of utmost good faith made up the firm cornerstone of insurance law in the past, it has not been an extensive and all-encompassing duty because the nature of uberrimae fidei in insurance contracts has already changed lately. This essay introduces briefly the evolution of uberrimae fidei in marine insurance law and analyses the nature and its dilemma. By comparing the relationship between good faith and the utmost good faith, upon further analysis, the reason why the obligation needs current reform is the downturn of international trade from the macro-level perspective. Moreover, from the micro-level perspective, legal requirements between the subjective state of the insured and the duty of the “fair presentation” are radically different. All in all, though the utmost good faith laid a solid foundation on insurance law, the “fair presentation” in the 2015 Act is more obviously applicable to counterpoise the benefits of the insurer and the insured, which is regarded as insurance relationships’ fresh core. Therefore, nowadays this reform is a success on a fair and reasonable legal basis, and it reduces insurance obligations of the insured traditionally to boost the prosperity of the marine insurance business currently.