Course Catalogue

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The proposed course on Commercial Insurance Law is designed to introduce students to the principles of Insurance Law. The aim of the course is to introduce students to the structure and operation of insurance markets and insurance contracts. Insurance law is a dynamic area of Commercial law that permeates many aspects of modern society and business. Insurance is fundamentally about risks which includes everyday risks such as travel insurance, professional insurance, motor insurance, life insurance - to larger scale commercial risks, such as, marine insurance. The course will be of value to those who are interesting in specialising in Insurance law but also to those who would like to widen their understanding of Commercial law. Due to its cross-cutting nature, it is relevant whether students are interested in Public law, Private law, or Commercial law and would enable students to pursue careers in corporate law firms, industry organisations, academia, and government. By the end of the course, students will gain a solid understanding of the operation of insurance contracts, how they interact with other types of commercial contracts, and how changing social, economic, and political events shape insurance law and practice.

There will be 10 seminars of 2 hours and the following topics will be covered in each seminar:

Seminar 1: Introduction to Insurance Regulation and the operation of the London Insurance Market

Seminar 2: Insurable Interest and the Indemnity Principle

Seminar 3: Fair Presentation of Risk

Seminar 4: Insurance Contractual Terms

Seminar 5: Causation

Seminar 6: Brokers duties

Seminar 7: Assignment

Seminar 8: Subrogation, Aggregation, and Contribution

Seminar 9: Fraudulent Claims

Seminar 10: Contemporary Issues in Insurance Law and Practice

The course is open to all students subject to the requirements of the LLM Programmes in which they are enrolled.

None.

None.

i) Students will be required to complete an essay of 1500 words on a given topic in insurance law.

ii) Students will be required to complete an exam and answer two questions from a choice of four questions.

The course provides an in-depth examination of the operation of insurance markets and insurance contracts. It will examine key legal principles underpinning insurance contracts and the role of insurance in the broader context of commercial markets. The primary focus will on the London market - which is one of the most important insurance markets - but a comparative approach will be adopted with other relevant jurisdictions when necessary.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Apply their knowledge of relevant substantive areas of insurance law to identify legal issues arising from insurance and other types of commercial contracts.

■ Demonstrate critical awareness of how insurance law and markets operate within the broader commercial law framework.

■ Critically analyse case law and correctly apply legal principles to factual scenarios.

■ Evaluate and engage with current debates about law reform in this area.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.