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In insurance, the insurance policy is a contract (generally a standard form contract) between the insurer and the policyholder, which determines the claims which the insurer is legally required to pay. In exchange for an initial payment, known as the premium, the insurer promises to pay for loss caused by perils covered under the policy language.
The first known insurance contract dates from Genoa in 1347. In the next century, maritime insurance developed widely, and premiums were varied with risks. [12] These new insurance contracts allowed insurance to be separated from investment, a separation of roles that first proved useful in marine insurance.
Uberrima fides (sometimes seen in its genitive form uberrimae fidei) is a Latin phrase meaning "utmost good faith" (literally, "most abundant faith").It is the name of a legal doctrine which governs insurance contracts.
An insurance contract is a contract of the utmost good faith. The most important expression of that principle, under the doctrine as it has been interpreted in England, is that the prospective insured must accurately disclose to the insurer everything that he knows and that is or would be material to the reasonable insurer.
In addition, section 48 of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) allows third-party beneficiaries to enforce contracts of insurance. Although damages are the usual remedy for the breach of a contract for the benefit of a third party, if damages are inadequate, specific performance may be granted (Beswick v. Beswick [1968] AC 59).
His judgment in Carter v Boehm was an application of his general principle to the making of a contract of insurance. It was based upon the inequality of information as between the proposer and the underwriter and the character of insurance as a contract upon a "speculation". He equated non-disclosure to fraud. He said at p 1909:
These general principles of the law of contract in South Africa also hold good for contracts of insurance, and must be applied to such contracts. It is sometimes maintained that a contract of insurance comes into existence as soon as the parties have agreed upon every material term of the contract they wish to make, such as
The formation of an insurance contract is governed by ordinary contractual principles [3] however, as a commercial contract, a policy of insurance should be given a businesslike interpretation "having regard to the language used by the parties, the commercial circumstances the document addresses, and the objects which it is intended to secure." [4]