1Short title and commencement [see Note 1]
This Act may be cited as the Marine Insurance Act 1909 and shall commence on a day to be fixed by proclamation.
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Bill homepage (APH)This Act may be cited as the Marine Insurance Act 1909 and shall commence on a day to be fixed by proclamation.
In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears.
Action includes counterclaim and set‑off.
Freight includes the profit derivable by a ship‑owner from the employment of his or her ship to carry his or her own goods or movables, as well as freight payable by a third party, but does not include passage money.
Movables means any movable tangible property, other than the ship, and includes money, valuable securities, and other documents.
Policy means a marine policy.
The rules of the common law, including the law merchant, save in so far as they are inconsistent with the express provisions of this Act, shall apply to contracts of marine insurance.
The Imperial Acts and State Acts set out in the First Schedule shall not to the extent therein specified apply to any contract or policy of marine insurance to which this Act applies.
This Act shall apply to marine insurance other than State marine insurance and to State marine insurance extending beyond the limits of the State concerned.
This Act does not apply to contracts of marine insurance made before the commencement of this Act.
A contract of marine insurance is a contract whereby the insurer undertakes to indemnify the assured, in manner and to the extent thereby agreed, against marine losses, that is to say, the losses incident to marine adventure.
A contract of marine insurance may, by its express terms, or by usage of trade, be extended so as to protect the assured against losses on inland waters or on any land risk which may be incidental to any sea voyage.
Where a ship in course of building, or the launch of a ship, or any adventure analogous to a marine adventure, is covered by a policy in the form of a marine policy, the provisions of this Act, in so far as applicable, shall apply thereto; but, except as by this section provided, nothing in this Act shall alter or affect any rule of law applicable to any contract of insurance other than a contract of marine insurance as by this Act defined.
Subject to the provisions of this Act, every lawful marine adventure may be the subject of a contract of marine insurance.
In particular there is a marine adventure where:
any ship, goods, or other movables are exposed to maritime perils. Such property is in this Act referred to as insurable property;
the earning or acquisition of any freight, passage money, commission, profit, or other pecuniary benefit, or the security for any advances, loan, or disbursements, is endangered by the exposure of insurable property to maritime perils;
any liability to a third party may be incurred by the owner of, or other person interested in or responsible for, insurable property, by reason of maritime perils.
Maritime perils means the perils consequent on, or incidental to, the navigation of the sea, that is to say, perils of the seas, fire, war perils, pirates, rovers, thieves, captures, seizures, restraints, and detainments of princes and peoples, jettisons, barratry, and any other perils, either of the like kind, or which may be designated by the policy.
Every contract of marine insurance by way of gaming or wagering is void.
A contract of marine insurance is deemed to be a gaming or wagering contract:
where the assured has not an insurable interest as defined by this Act, and the contract is entered into with no expectation of acquiring such an interest; or
where the policy is made interest or no interest, or without further proof of interest than the policy itself, or without benefit of salvage to the insurer, or subject to any other like term:
Provided that, where there is no possibility of salvage, a policy may be effected without benefit of salvage to the insurer.
Subject to the provisions of this Act, every person has an insurable interest who is interested in a marine adventure.
In particular, a person is interested in a marine adventure where he or she stands in any legal or equitable relation to the adventure, or to any insurable property at risk therein, in consequence of which he or she may benefit by the safety or due arrival of insurable property, or may be prejudiced by its loss, or by damage thereto, or by the detention thereof, or may incur liability in respect thereof.
The assured must be interested in the subject‑matter insured at the time of the loss, though he or she need not be interested when the insurance is effected:
Provided that where the subject‑matter is insured lost or not lost, the assured may recover although he or she may not have acquired his or her interest until after the loss, unless at the time of effecting the contract of insurance the assured was aware of the loss, and the insurer was not.
Where the assured has no interest at the time of the loss, he or she cannot acquire interest by any act or election after he or she is aware of the loss.
A defeasible interest is insurable, as also is a contingent interest.
In particular, where the buyer of goods has insured them, he or she has an insurable interest, notwithstanding that he or she might, at his or her election, have rejected the goods, or have treated them as at the seller’s risk, by reason of the latter’s delay in making delivery or otherwise.
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