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References

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  26. Due to the “special reasons for keeping in harmony with the marine insurance laws of England, the great field of this business” as stated in Queens Ins Co of America v Globe & Rutgers Fire Ins Co, 263 US 487, 493, 44 SCt 175, 176, 68 LEd 402 (1924).

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  28. The District court ruled that federal maritime law governed and that due to the “literal compliance” rule, the Wilburns were not entitled to any recovery. The US Court of Appeals (5th Circuit) affirmed (Sturley MF (2002) A US Perspective on Marine Insurance Law, Ch 12 In Thomas R (ed) The Modern Law of Marine Insurance, Vol. 2, LLP).

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  29. On 28 February, 1955, the Supreme Court reversed the 5th Circuit’s decision. Justice Black, having noted that there was no relevant federal legislation, asked whether there was a judicially established federal admiralty rule governing these warranties and secondly, in the case that there was not, whether they should fashion one. He answered the first question to the negative and did not offer any guidance as to what is required for a rule to become “judicially established”, and regarding the second question, the court declined to fashion a “new” admiralty rule firstly because the regulation of insurance had historically been a state matter and the Congress had long accepted and acted upon this division of responsibility, and secondly even if the court decided to fashion a new rule, the latter would prove a difficult task for which the courts might not be the best equipped to perform. Justice Frankfurter accepted the court’s judgement but distinguished his position as to the majority’s reasoning, and argued for a middle ground, where cases requiring a uniform rule would be governed by general maritime law, whilst those of essentially local interest would be governed by state law. Justice Reed, together with Justice Burton, dissented and argued that the rule, until Congress or court modified it, should apply to all maritime cases so as to preserve uniformity (Sturley MF (2002) A US Perspective on Marine Insurance Law, Ch 12 In Thomas R (ed) The Modern Law of Marine Insurance, Vol. 2, LLP).

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  31. The Supreme Court began its vertical choice-of-law analysis by asking whether there was an established federal admiralty rule governing the issue. The court concluded that there was no such rule in the case before it, offering no more guidance on what would be required for a rule to become sufficiently established. The court expected more than two court of appeal rulings so as to accept the literal compliance rule as part of the general admiralty law. However, despite the broad criticism of the Wilburn Boat, the judiciary has not uniformly limited or distinguished it. In Youell v Exxon Corp, [48 F3d 105 1995 AMC 369] the court — although essentially willing to disregard Wilburn Boat-Aid not declare that the case encompassed a more general impetus justifying the non application of state law. Some courts choose to apply state law simply because the case before them involves marine insurance (Sturley MF (2002) A US Perspective on Marine Insurance Law, Ch 12 In Thomas R (ed) The Modern Law of Marine Insurance, Vol 2, LLP).

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  32. When a court has chosen a particular state’s law, there is rarely a relevant judicial decision or statute in the maritime context. Many states exclude marine insurance from significant portions of their insurance legislation. Thus, the court is left to resolve a marine insurance dispute with reasoning derived from other areas of insurance such as automobile or homeowner insurance. In identifying which state’s law will be applied, federal choice-of-law considerations will govern. In Advani Enterprises Inc v Underwriters at Lloyd’s [927 F2d. 882 1991 AMC 2211 (5th Circ)] the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted summary judgement to a cargo underwriter because of the insured’s breach of an express warranty that voided the policy under New York State Law. On appeal, the United States Court of Appeal for the 2nd Circuit found there was no established federal law, under the Wilburn Boat, and balancing the contacts under federal choice-of-law rules held that English law applied. The result is that under Wilburn Boat, where federal law is not deemed well established, state or foreign law may be applied but federal law may not. (Sturley MF (2002) A US Perspective on Marine Insurance Law, Ch 12 In Thomas R (ed) The Modern Law of Marine Insurance, Vol 2, LLP).

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  42. The 1906 Act has not removed the need to refer to pre-Act authorities, and that even where the wording of the Act is clear the courts have accepted the need to construe its terms flexibly in order to give the Act a sensible modern application. (Croly C, Merkin R (2001) Doubts About Insurance Codes, J.B.L. 2001, Nov, 587–604).

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  45. However, in the USA there is no specific statute to regulate marine insurance other than federal maritime law. Moreover, due to the Wilburn Boat v Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co, 348 US 310, 75 SCt 368, 99 LEd, 337 (1955) ruling, courts will nowadays mostly apply state law. Nevertheless, even in this case the situation is not always that clear-cut, as not all states have a statute to regulate marine insurance law and, subsequently, they will have to resort to either home or automobile insurance law to resolve the issue arisen.

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© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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(2007). The history and legislative framework of marine insurance. In: The Principle of Indemnity in Marine Insurance Contracts. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-49074-6_1

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