国际商务英语课文电子版lesson (16).doc

Lesson 16 Insurance (II)Transportation insurance, like all forms of insurance, conforms to (follow遵守) certain basic principles. When firms seek cover（保险）for goods and units of carriage（运载工具）they must follow these principles. There are three main principles of insurance, two subsidiary（次要）principles and a doctrine（原理）. Insurable interest (可保利益) holds（认为）that no one may insure anything unless he has an interest in it（有利益）, which means that if the thing insured is preserved（protected）he will derive a benefit from its preservation (protection), but if it is in any way damaged or lost the assured will be adversely affected（受到不利的影响）. You can insure your own car, for if it is damaged you will have to pay for it to be repaired and consequently（因此）you will suffer a loss. You cannot insure your neighbors car, for if it is damaged you will not suffer any loss. For this reason the insuring of anything by people who are not “interested” in it is held (thought被认为) to be “against public policy”（违反公共政策）. This means that crime would be encouraged.Every contract of insurance requires an insurable interest to support it, or otherwise it is invalid（无效的） and any claim made upon it（based on it 依据保险合同）will not be entertained（accept接受，受理）（by the insurer）. The time of an event may be crucial to the question of insurable interest. The interest passes (转移) with the documents. In cargo insurance we know who has an interest in the cargo at any particular point of time, if we know the terms of sale (price terms / terms of payment FOB.) which have been arranged. We can work out who will suffer loss by discovering at what point the property passes from one person to another. The person who is going to suffer the loss is the one who has the insurable interest at any moment. This means that goods may be shipped at the port of origin(货物原产地港口)by a shipper or freight forwarder (consignor) under a policy（保单） taken out to cover them, and the buyer takes over the policy which has been issued when he takes over the ownership of the goods. If they fail to complete the voyage（旅程） (journey/transportation) undamaged, he (buyer) can claim on the insurance even though it was not in his name. Utmost good faith（最在诚信原则）is a very important principle. The people who decide what premium is fair 公正的 for a particular cover（某一笔保险）do （决定多少保费是公平的）so on the basis of written statements made in a proposal form投保单（by the insured）. If this statement is untrue, then the premium agreed on will not be a fair one. Suppose I say that a crate板条箱 contains copper, when in fact it contains platinum（铂金）. The premium required to cover the cheaper metal will be an unfair premium for the more valuable cargo. The mis-statement is a fraud（欺骗）, and the policy is voidable（可取消的）（can be avoided/revoked）by the party who is misled (误导)（the insurer）. Even if the mis-statement was unintentional (非故意的), the underwriter would still be deceived and the policy voidable.Indemnity（损失补偿原则）holds that a contract of insurance（is one which）can only restores（恢复）a person who suffered a loss into the same position (as he was in) before the loss occurred. A person with a third-hand Ford car will receive sufficient (enough) compensation to buy another third-hand Ford car, not enough to buy a brand-new (崭新的) Ford car. This principle cannot apply to life（寿险）or personal accident insurance（人身意外保险）for of course a life, or a limb, cannot be restored. In a normal policy of insurance the compensation payable（可支付赔偿）is sufficient only to restore the insured to the position he was in before the loss occurrednot to a better position. Cargo policies are often issued for an agreed value（商定的价值） and are therefore called “valued” policies（有价保单）. The idea is that the compensation payable will be at an agreed figure（商定的数值）, often at invoiced cost （invoice value）plus freight (主运费) and forwarding charges（转运费）plus the insurance premium plus an agreed percentage such as 10 percent.（发票金额+主运费+转运运费+保费+10%）This （10%）represents a profit that could have been earned on the capital tied up（被占用）in the transaction. Contribution（损失分摊）is a sub-principle（under indemnity） which is associated with indemnity. It holds that a person cannot be allowed to insure twice for the same risk, and claim compensation from both insurers. To do so would amount to (be equal to相当于) restoring the insured to a better position than he was in when the loss occurred. It would be a breach (violation违背) of indemnity, and against public policy. Therefore, if two policies do cover the same event, the insurance companies contribute pro rata（按比例）to （分摊）the loss, and the insured is only restored to the indemnity position（损失发生以前的状态）. This is unlikely to happen very frequently in cargo insurance. Subrogation（代位追偿）, the sub-principle, also relating to indemnity, is of enormous importance in cargo insurance. The word “subrogate” means “to take the place of another”. Imagine a situation where A has insured his cargo with B and it is damaged by Cs negligence (carelessness疏忽大意). A will naturally claim against B, who will pay up for the loss suffered. However, because C was negligent, a legal action (法律诉讼) by A against C would almost certainly lead to an award (a grant made by a law court判决) of damage against C (判决C承担损害责任). A would thus be compensated twice, and this would be a breach of the principle of indemnity. To prevent this happening, B, the insurer, is substituted for (replace替代) A, the assured, in any legal action against C. The insurer is entitled to (享有权力或利益) the advantage (interest利益) of every right of the assured, which will diminish (reduce) the loss he (insurer) has been forced to bear.The doctrine of proximate cause （近因原则）when an insurance policy is made out to cover a certain risk, a claim becomes payable only if that risk occurred as the proximate (closest) cause of the loss suffered. The proximate cause is the direct cause of the loss. Notes: Conform to 遵守 Most people are willing to conform to the custom of society. 大多数人都愿意遵循社会习俗。 In writin