Insurance fraud is perhaps one of the most pressing problems challenging the insurance industry. The judiciary plays a significant role in tackling insurance fraud: the burden is on their shoulders to identify the appropriate legal rules governing fraudulent claims and determining the consequences of fraud. However, regrettably, this process has long remained elusive and in the recent decades the courts have tried but failed to formulate clear principles for the treatment of insurance fraud, so the process is, still, continuing. This judicial process is not free from difficulty particularly with regard to the consequence of presenting fraudulent claims. The failure of judicial attempt to formulate clear principles in this jurisdiction has attracted the attention of the Law Commissions which intend to pursue a reform at the legislative level. At the current stage, the law seems to stand at a turning point and try to adapt itself to the new situation. The author is of the opinion that this is the right time to provide a full-scale research in the jurisdiction of insurance fraudulent claims for the purpose of identifying the existing difficulties and confusions, shaping the appropriate legal regime and contributing to the evolving reform process of English insurance contract law. The author is also of the opinion that considering the viability of reform proposals from a novel perspective, namely economics and law, might add a very interesting dimension to the debate. It is believed that the law and economics debate would be helpful in explaining the outcomes of certain legal solutions and identifying the most appropriate legal remedy. Finally, the author also intends to examine to what extent the Law Commissions' proposal could be defended in the light of author's legal and economic analysis.

L'assurance maritime constitue la première forme d'assurance connue, qui s'est développée à la fin du Moyen-Âge et a gagné l'ensemble de l'Europe au XVIe siècle. Rouen, l'une des plus importantes villes commerciales et maritimes du royaume de France, fut la première – et la seule – à être dotée d'un greffe des assurances dès 1556. Elle constitue donc un lieu de choix pour l'étude de ce contrat dans notre pays. Le caractère aléatoire de l'assurance a posé très tôt le problème de l'équilibre des intérêts des parties. D'une part, l'assuré devait pouvoir bénéficier de garanties suffisantes pour recourir à l'assurance. Il s'agissait d'autre part de protéger l'assureur, qui, en plus de prendre les risques de l'expédition à sa charge, se trouvait en grande partie dépendant de la bonne foi de son assuré. Aux côtés de leur « commis aux assurances », les marchands rouennais ont alors recherché et adopté des solutions. L'ordonnance de la Marine de 1681, première législation française sur les assurances, a ensuite tenté d'unifier les usages et pratiques du royaume. Elle a proposé différentes mesures pour promouvoir ce contrat tant auprès des assurés que des assureurs. L'assurance maritime, en lien avec les nombreux domaines juridiques que sont le droit des obligations, le droit commercial, le droit maritime, le droit cambiaire ou encore celui des sociétés, a alors évolué sous l'influence conjuguée des juges et des marchands, toujours soucieux de trouver un équilibre contractuel. / Shipping insurance is the first known form of insurance. It was instituted at the end of the Middle Ages and spread to the whole of Europe in the sixteenth century. Rouen, as one of the largest commercial and maritime cities in the Kingdom of France, was the first and indeed the only city to be given a patent for insurance as early as 1556. It is therefore the ideal place in which to study such a contract in this country. The fluctuating nature of insurance quickly pinpointed the problem of balancing the interests of the parties involved. On the one hand, the insured person needed to be able to benefit from guaranties allowing him to resort to insurance. Similarly, the insurer needed to be protected since he not only had the responsibility of the voyage, with the risks that that implied, but was also dependent on the honesty of the person insured. Together with their “insurance agents”, the merchants of Rouen therefore sought and adopted solutions to this problem. The Royal Ordinance of Shipping, in 1681, – the first French legislation on insurance – then endeavoured to unify the customs and uses carried out in the Kingdom of France. It offered various measures to develop this contract between the insured and the insurer. Maritime insurance, together with the many other sectors of law such as that of obligations, commercial law, maritime law, law pertaining to Exchange or to Societies, then evolved under the combined influence of the judiciary and of merchants, continually seeking a contractual balance.

This thesis defines the most important transport documents used in the carriage of goods by sea. It describes the way how they are used and the functions they perform. The main emphasis is focused on the bill of lading which is mostly used in the liner shipping and on the Charter Party, which is the basis of the realization of the tramp shipping. The thesis gives a comprehensive overview of a complicated international legislation of the liability relations in the maritime transport, which are differently regulated in the Hague, Hague-Visby and Hamburg rules at present. There is also provided a basic overview of the maritime transport risks and the possibility of their coverage in order to reduce the negative impact of eventual damages.