The aim of this thesis is to examine English and Australian law relating to legal liability insurances, in order to determine whether English law can be regarded as having gone down a less desirable route in resolving the problems that arise. Australia has been chosen as a comparator because of its previous colonial position whereby English common law was directly applicable, but, against that backdrop of shared jurisprudence, the Commonwealth of Australia, and its constituent States, have developed, under independence, their own solutions in this area of law. There are various problems that emerge, both as between the injured third party and the culpable insured defendant, and between that insured and his liability insurer. This analysis is approached by first comparing English and Australian law relating to the extent of the indemnity provided by insurances against legal liabilities incurred by the insured. This is to be found in Chapter 1, where the judicial interpretation of the primary insuring words of such policies is considered, and in Chapter 2, where the legal effect of the main express terms and conditions encountered in both English and Australian policies are discussed. Statutory reform affects the position in Australia. Chapter 3 examines the extent of the problems, and the ramifications, that can arise in the four categories of resistance of the insurer to providing an indemnity to the insured - avoidance ab initio of the policy for non-disclosure or misrepresentation of material facts at inception; repudiation of liability for breach of an insurance warranty; rejection of the claim for breach of a condition precedent or other policy condition; and denial that the claim is within the scope of the policy indemnity. The statutory compulsory regimes adopted in England and Australia with regard to the insuring of motor vehicle liability and employers' liability to their employees are discussed and contrasted in Chapter 4. The claimant third party's direct rights of action against the liability insurer of a judgment debtor are considered in Chapter 5. Finally, conclusions are reached on the preferred approach on all of these aspects.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:488304 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Jess, Digby Charles |
| Publisher | University of Manchester |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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