CML Working Paper: Fair Presentation of the Risk in the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

This paper shows how the duty to make a fair presentation of the risk has been judicially developed not because of statutory reforms but in spite of them. Courts have driven significant changes to this duty re-interpreting long-standing elements, such as materiality and inducement. Central to this is the provision of remedies for the breach of this duty in the Insurance Act 2015, which has accelerated the process of judicial development of this duty. While Singapore continues to apply a version of the Marine Insurance Act 1906 in its original format without the changes implemented by the Insurance Act 2015, this paper suggests that the brutal, simple version of pre-contractual disclosure under the Marine Insurance Act 1906 is likely to be replaced by a more nuanced and ‘open textured’ model of commercial contracting. Accordingly, English law is of guidance in this aspect and provides persuasive authority.

Keywords: marine insurance, fair presentation, misrepresentation, materiality, inducement, law reform

Available at SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5836642
or download the paper at: CML Working Paper Series

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