When interprting a contract, it is assumed that the draftsman works with a view to certainty of sense and standardisation of terms. Bankes LJ said: ‘Courts should be chary in interfering with the interpretation given to a well-known document and acted on for any considerable period of time.’ and ‘The decision in Stanley v Western LR 3 Ex 71, 74, 75 has been unchallenged and presumably acted on for fifty years, and even if I did not agree with the view there expressed I should hesitate before overruling it.’
Scrutton LJ said that he felt bound to read the words of the condition at issue in the light of existing English decisions.
Judges:
Bankes LJ, Scrutton LJ
Citations:
[1920] 1 KB 257
Cited by:
Cited – Toomey v Eagle Star Insurance Co Ltd CA 1994
The word ‘reinsurance’ is often used loosely simply to describe any contract of insurance which is placed by or for the benefit of an insurer, but it should be construed more properly to require the insurance of an insurable interest in the subject . .
Cited – Bedfordshire Police Authority v Constable and others ComC 20-Jun-2008
The authority insured its primary liability for compensation under the 1886 Act through the claimants and the excess of liability through re-insurers. The parties sought clarification from the court of the respective liabilities of the insurance . .
Cited – Sunport Shipping Limited, Prometheus Maritime Corporation, Celestial Maritime Corporation, Surzur Overseas Limited v Tryg-Baltica International (UK) Ltd (Formerly Know As Colonia Baltica Insurance Ltd) and others CA 24-Jan-2003
(The ‘Kleovoulos of Rhodes’) A large quantity of cocaine was discovered by divers behind a grille in a sea chest at the vessel’s discharge port, Aliveri – having been placed there by unknown third persons at the load port in Colombia, South America. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Insurance, Contract
Updated: 01 May 2022; Ref: scu.270261