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Article: The duty of utmost good faith in insurance law: where is it in the 21st century? The historical background of good and bad faith continues to develop in English law, especially in two recent maritime cases.
- Article from:
- Defense Counsel Journal
- Article date:
- January 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 International Association of Defense Counsels. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE duty of good faith in insurance law, first enunciated by Lord Mansfield in 1766 in Carter v. Boehm, predates the coming into existence of the United States. Yet, more than 200 years of English legal history have not solved all the problems that arise from the lack of good faith of insureds and sometimes of insurers and the ingenuity of their legal advisers. As recently as 1996, the House of Lords were split 3-2 over fundamental questions on the duty of disclosure.
Two important recent English decisions--The "Star Sea" (1) and The "Mercandian Continent," (2) which concern marine insurance but are of general application to all forms of insurance and ...