| TITLE |
DESCRIPTION |
| A.O.A. or a.o.a. |
Any one accident. |
| A.O.B. or a.o.b. |
Any one bottom. |
| A.O.E. |
Any one event. |
| A.O.I. or a.o.i. |
Any one loss. |
| A.O.O. or a.o.o.or a.o.occ. |
Any one occurrence. |
| A.P. |
Additional premium. |
| Abandonment |
This is a condition precedent to a constructive total loss (CTL). In order to claim a CTL the assured must tender reasonable notice of abandonment to the insurer and can do so verbally or in writing. |
| ABS |
American Bureau of Shipping. |
| Act of God |
When a misfortune occurs which could not have been prevented by reasonable precautionary measures this is termed an Act of God. |
| Actual Total Loss |
An actual total loss can occur in four ways. (1) Where the subject matter is completed destroyed. (2) Where the subject matter ceases to be the thing of the kind insured. This is also termed “Lost of Specie”. (3) Where the assured is irretrievably deprived of the subject matter, although it has retained its specie. (4) And, in the case of hull insurance, a missing ship is deemed an actual total loss when it has been posted as “missing” at Lloyd’s |
| Ad Val. Or Ad Valorem |
An expression used to state that the value of the goods or interest is to be taken into account. |
| Additional Premium |
When an insurance has been accepted by the insurer and the premium agreed, the addition of any further liability to the insurer incurs an additional premium. The term is also used when the insurer agrees a basic premium for the basic conditions of the insurance and at the same time agrees to extend the basic conditions subject to the payment of an additional premium. |
| Adjuster |
See “Claims Adjuster” and “Average Adjuster”. |
| Advance Freight |
Freight paid in advance is, in practice, deemed to have been earned and is therefore not returnable in the event that the carrier fails to deliver the goods at destination. The owner of the cargo has an insurable interest in advance freight and can include it in the insured value of his goods. |
| Advance Premium |
An American expression denoting deposit premium. |
| Adventure |
This refers to the period during which the subject matter is exposed to perils whether insured or not. |
| Air Cargo Clauses |
The current air cargo clauses were published by the Institute of London Underwriters in 1982 for attachment to the MAR form of policy. They may be used for all sendings of goods by air, except sendings by post (ie. airmail). They provide ‘all risks’ cover, similar to the cover in the ICC(A) 1983, on which they are based. The difference between the A clauses and the air cargo clauses is found in the duration of cover. |
| Air Sendings |
Goods in transit by air. For standard insurance cover see entry ‘Air Cargo Clauses’. |
| Always Open |
A term used in the placing of open covers; it means that the insurance remains continuous from the date of inception until notice of cancellation has been given by either party and such notice has expired. |
| American Foreign Insurance Association |
A group of American Insurance Companies who offer consolidated facilities for the writing of insurance business outside the USA. |
| Anchor Policy |
A Lloyd’s Policy form. So called because the Lloyd’s symbol on the policy contains an anchor. |
| Arrests, Restraints and Detainments |
These perils may be expressed in a marine policy as exclusions or in a war risks policy as risks covered. When used as exclusions they relate to all forms of arrest etc, whether the arrest, etc be judicial or warlike. When used in a war policy as risks covered, they relate solely to warlike arrests, etc. It is customary for a war risks policy to incorporate a specific exclusion regarding judicial arrests etc. |
| Assailing Thieves |
This term was applied, by the MIA, 1906, to the peril ‘thieves’ in the S.G. form of policy. It limited the cover to only persons from outside the vessel who committed acts of violent theft. With the abrogation of the S.G. policy, the peril ‘thieves’ was omitted from cargo policies, so its definition is of no importance regarding cargo insurance today. The peril was carried on into the 1983 hull cover, but was clearly expressed as ‘violent theft by persons from outside the vessel’, so the term ‘assailing thieves’ has become obsolete. |
| Assignee |
Is the person to whom the interest or beneficial rights under a policy have been assigned. An assigned acquires no greater rights in a policy than the assignor had, so that if the assignor is guilty of misrepresentation by which the insurer may avoid the contract, the insurer may equally avoid the contract after it has been assigned. |
| Assignment of Interest |
When the rights in a property which is the subject of marine insurance change hands the insurable interest therein is assigned by implication. It is not to be implied that the rights in the policy are automatically assigned at the same time. |
| Assignment of Policy |
Unless the policy conditions provide otherwise, a marine policy is freely assignable to any person who has an insurable interest in the property at risk. The policy may be assigned either at the time the interest passes or before. It cannot be assigned after the interest passes because a person who has no insurable interest has no valid policy to assign. In practice, agreement is made or implied to assign the policy before the interest passes. |
| Assignor |
The person who assigns his interest or beneficial rights under a policy to the assignee. |
| Assured |
The assured is the person who, having an insurable interest in the property at risk which is the subject matter of the insurance, effects an insurance in this respect. |
| Assurer |
The assurer is the person or Company who holds himself liable to compensate the assured in the event of a loss to the insured property proximately caused by a peril insured against. |
| Attachment Date |
The date on which risk attaches. In practice, at Lloyd’s the leading underwriter enters the month the risk attaches on the broker’s slip. This gives a basis for assessing the period of credit allowed for premium payment. |
| Attachment of Interest |
The Assured need not have an insurable interest at the time of effecting the insurance but in order to claim under the policy he must have an insurable interest at the time of loss and he must have some expectation of acquiring such interest at the time of effecting the insurance. An assignee taking over a policy or acquiring an interest after inception of the risk may have the benefit of the assignor’s interest in respect of loss by the insertion in the policy of the expression “lost or not lost”. (This term does not appear in the 1983 hull clauses). Insurable interest attaches as soon as the assured is in a position where he may lose by reason of an accident to the property at risk. |
| Attachment of Risk |
The term relates to the time when the property, to which the insurable interest relates, becomes exposed to insured perils. If an underwriter writes his line before the risk attaches, he is not liable for any losses which occur before the risk attaches. If the underwriter writes his line after the risk attaches, it should be made clear whether he intends to cover losses incurred before he wrote his line. Cargo underwriters do this by accepting the ‘lost or not lost’ clause in the standard (1982) cargo clauses. There is no equivalent clause in the (1983) hull clauses. |
| Average |
This is the marine insurance term or a partial loss. Particular charges are not to be included when calculating average.In non-marine insurance the term “subject to average” is used in which case it means that in the event of a claim arising and it being proved that the amount insured is less than the true value the assured must bear his proportion of the loss. |
| Average Adjuster |
An average adjuster is an expert in loss adjustment in marine insurance, particularly with regard to hulls and hull interest. He is more particularly concerned with general average adjustments. He is usually appointed to carry out general average adjustments for the shipowner on whom falls the onus to have the adjustment drawn up. His charges and expenses form part of the adjustment. |
