22. Marine cargo insurance

This chapter focuses on the context in which risk in a commercial transaction can be transferred. There is always, in all sales of goods, the risk that the goods will be damaged or lost in transit from seller to buyer, except when the sale is conducted face to face. The parties may seek to control this risk in a number of ways, but typically will transfer its financial impact to a third party through insurance. In the international sales of goods, particularly where the goods are transported by sea, not only are the physical risks increased when compared to a domestic sale, but the logistics are such that determining the cause of the loss may be difficult, and attributing liability problematic. Consequently, it is preferable to have the security of a claim against an identifiable financially secure party in the event of loss. In documentary sales the buyer is induced to make payment or at least to accept risk of loss or damage to the goods only because that risk is insured. Consequently, contracts of marine cargo insurance have an essential role to play in such sales, and it is to this form of insurance that the chapter is devoted.

Part I International Sales Governed by English Law, 7 Passing of Property and Risk

This chapter looks at the passing of property and the risks involved. The passing of property (or ownership) to the buyer is of vital interest in both domestic law and the international law of sale. The law of sale, as codified by the Sale of Goods Act, is a combination of contract and conveyance. The latter part — the conveyance — is the passing of property. In the Act itself, the passing of property is important in defining the moment when risk is transferred. The significance of risk is that, when transferred to the buyer, it determines the contractual rights of the seller and buyer if there occurs a casualty to the goods for which neither party bears contractual responsibility. However, as the chapter shows, this connection between the property and risk is not as important in the law of international sale as it is in the law of domestic sale.

Trade Special Issue: Foreword

This foreword introduces four articles featured in this volume of the Victoria University of Wellington Law Review, all of which address trade law from diverse angles: Oliver Delvos "WTO Disciplines and Fisheries Subsidies – Should the SCM Agreement Be Modified?" (2005) 37 VUWLR 341; Thomas A Faunce, Kellie Johnston, and Hilary Bambrick "Trans-Tasman Therapeutic Products Authority: Potential AUSFTA Impacts on Safety and Cost-Effectiveness Regulation for Medicines and Medical Devices in New Zealand" (2005) 37 VUWLR 365; Jane Kelsey "Free Trade Agreements – Boon or Bane: Through the Lens of PACER" (2005) 37 VUWLR 391; and Nicholas Whittington "Reconsidering Domestic Sale of Goods Remedies in Light of CISG" (2005) 37 VUWLR 421.

Reconsidering Domestic Sale of Goods Remedies in Light of the CISG

This article suggests that New Zealand should overhaul the remedies available for breach of sale of goods contracts. It argues that the Sale of Goods Act 1908 should be repealed and the principles and provisions of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods 1980 (CISG) should be adopted in its place. This would have the effect of eliminating the unnecessary distinction currently made between domestic and international sale of goods, and finally ridding the law of the condition-warranty distinction which has become out of date and leads to uncertainty and injustice. It is argued that the provisions of the CISG better respond to the transportation and communication costs and distances involved in international sales, considerations which are not insignificant in trade within New Zealand and, consequently, justify a similar approach domestically.