policy was held to attach while the ship was at sea on the voyage, immediately upon the expiration of the first.1 A policy was effected on ship, "to, at, and from one or more ports in the globe, for one year, commencing the risk at Barbadoes the 7th of December, 1810, to continue till the vessel should be arrived and moored at anchor twenty-four hours in safety within the year aforesaid." The vessel was not at Barbadoes, as supposed by the policy, but the Court said, her being so was immaterial, and that the risk would end with the year without any regard to her being in any port, either at that time or before; the beginning, duration, and end of the risk being well enough described, without any regard to the place where it was to commence, or to the vessel being safe in port.2 A policy "at and from the Port of Pomaroa to Newcastle, and for fifteen days whilst there after arrival," was held to be a mixed policy, and consequently that a loss which happened after the voyage was completed, but within the fifteen days, and while the ship was within the port of Newcastle, was covered by it.3 Where any sea insurance is made for a voyage and also for Stamp duty. time, or to extend to or cover any time beyond thirty days after the ship shall have arrived at her destination, and been there moored at anchor, the policy is chargeable with duty as a policy for a voyage, and also with duty as a policy for time.1 France. The law of France, under the Ordonnance of 1681, differed Law of from the maritime law of almost all other countries, in providing that under policies in this form, if the voyage were not completed at the expiration of the time, the risk should still continue, the underwriter receiving an increase 1 See 1 Phillips on Ins. no. 928. 2 Manley v. United Marine and Fire Ins. Co., 9 Massa. R. 85, cited 1 Phillips, no. 928. 3 Gambles v. Ocean Mar. Ins. Co. of Bombay, 1 Ex. Div. 141, reversing the judgment below, ibid. 8. 430 Vict. c. 23, s. 11; as amended by 47 & 48 Vict. c. 62, s. 8. 5 2 Benecke, System des Assecuranz, 445. of premium in proportion to the increased duration of the risk.1 This provision, however, of the former law was designedly omitted from the Code de Commerce, on the ground, as stated by the codification committee, that to compel the underwriter to continue the risk beyond the limit of time fixed in the policy would be unjust, because the only meaning of its insertion must be to exempt him from liability beyond a certain fixed period.2 1 Ord. liv. 3, tit. vi. art. 35. 2 4 Boulay-Paty, Droit Mar. 172, 173. Boulay-Paty himself prefers the provisions of the old law, and considers it advisable to introduce a special clause into all such policies, that the risk shall continue after the expiration of the time at a proportionate increase of premium. He says such policies are of frequent use in the Mediterranean and Levant trade. clause. THE clause describing the voyage by its termini is distinct Duration &c. she hath moored at anchor twenty-four hours in good safety, As there are many decisions in our books on the con- Effect of this struction of this clause, and as the duration of the risk varies clause. upon the different subjects of insurance, it will conduce to clearness if we consider the subject of this chapter in relation to-1. The goods; 2. The ship; and 3. The freight. Duration of the risk on goods. In considering the duration of the risk on goods, we begin with the commencement of such risk. The policy runs,-" Beginning the adventure upon the said goods and ment of risk. merchandises, from the loading thereof aboard the said ship." Commence The common form of policy in this country, from which these words are taken, affords no protection against those dangers to which the goods are exposed in being carried in boats or lighters from the quays or wharfs of the port of loading to the ship's side. In this respect our law differs from that of almost all the Continental states, which either decree by their ordinances, or stipulate in their policies, that the risk of the underwriters on goods shall commence directly the goods leave the shore, in order to be loaded on board the ship.1 There is no bar, however, in this country against protecting goods during this transit from quay to ship by an express 1 Thus, the law of Hamburg provides that the risk on goods shall begin immediately from the time the goods leave the shore (da das Gut vom Lande schiedet), and continue till they are landed again in safety at their place of destination. (Assecuranz-ordnung, tit. v. art. 11, 13.) The insurance regulations of 1847 add:"The insurer is not responsible for loss caused by any mode of conveying goods from ship to shore, not usual at the port of discharge, unless informed that it will be resorted to." (1 Nolte's Benecke, 643.) By the Antwerp policies, "The risk on merchandise begins from the moment they are loaded in the ship, or in lighters to convey them there, and continues till landed at the port of discharge." (Vaucher, Guide, 16.) The ordinances of Amsterdam (art. 5), of Rotterdam (art. 46, 47), and of Spain (Code, art. 835, 871), go even farther, and declare that the risk on goods shall commence from the time they are brought down to the quay or wharf in order to be loaded on board. The Stockholm policies agree with these latter ordinances. (See Vaucher, Guide, 172.) The Prussian code (Tit. Versicherungen, § 2184, 2185) makes the risk commence from the loading on board of ship, or the lighters that are to convey them thither; and the French Code de Com. (art. 328, 341) contains exactly the same provision: and see 3 BoulayPaty, Droit Mar. 418-420; see also 2 Emerigon, c. xiii. s. 2, p. 48; and 2 Benecke, des Assecuranz, p. 205; 1 Nolte's ed. 641-646. By the German code the insurers undertake the risk of lighters when the use of such craft is in accordance with the custom of the port; art. 828. clause in the policy, properly framed for the purpose. Thus, in a policy on goods at and from St. Petersburg to London there was this clause: "Beginning the adventure on the said goods from and immediately following the loading thereof on board boats at St. Petersburg," and it was not disputed that under it the risk on goods commenced directly they were put on board boats at St. Petersburg to be loaded (in the usual course of trade there) on board the ship at Cronstadt.1 The clause in the policy runs,-" From the loading thereof on board the said ship at," &c. Upon these words it has been frequently decided that a policy on goods for a voyage "at and from" a specified terminus in which the risk is expressed to begin "from the loading thereof on board the ship" in the common form, will attach only on goods loaded on board at the very place named as the terminus a quo of the voyage. It is so held although it appear from extrinsic evidence that the underwriters knew the goods had, in fact, been loaded on board prior to the ship's arrival at the place specified as the terminus a quo of the voyage, and that it was the intention of the assured by the policy to protect the goods so loaded elsewhere.3 Most of the cases arose during the wars of the French Revolution, when, in consequence of Napoleon's Berlin and Milan decrees, goods really 1 Hurry v. Royal Exch. Ass. Co., 2 B. & P. 430; see per Heath, J., ibid. 435. The general law of Russia is (like our own), that the underwriter on goods shall not be liable for any loss in the course of transporting the goods from shore to ship, except by virtue of a special clause in the policy. Imperial Shipping Ordinance of Russia, c. 10, s. 183; Nolte's Benecke, vol. i. p. 616. 2 Robertson v. French, 4 East, 130; Spitta v. Woodman, 2 Tauut. 416; Horneyer v. Lushington, 15 East, 46; Langhorn v. Hardy, 4 Taunt. 628; Mellish . Andrews, 2 M. & Sel. 3 Per Bayley, J., in Gladstone v. From the port of loading. |