Reports of Committees
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1938.tb00394.x |
| Date | 01 June 1938 |
| Published date | 01 June 1938 |
54
MODERN
LAW
REVIEW
June,
1938
REPORTS
OF
COMMITTEES
Report
of
the
Commit&
on
Inanrance
of
Ships
(Cmd.
5840)
Although it has attracted little attention
this
Report is of considerable
significance, and if it had occurred in an age less hardened to loss of life
would almost certainly have given rise to an important political issue. In
a series of enquiries into the loss of British ships at sea, with heavy mor-
tality, the distinguished judges who conducted the investigations criticised
severely the modern method of insuring ships on valued policies for sums
much greater than the real insurable value. In the view of Branson.
J..
there
is
abundant evidence to show that the growth of this dubious system
has been largely due to the policy of underwriters intent on high premium
incomes.
As
MacKinnon,
L.
J..
said in the
case
of the
Michael
v.
Maris
such a system "almost invites such a casualty
as
is suggested to have
occurred in this case."
The investigation of this Board of Trade Committee hardly bears out
these strictures
;
they regard excessive insurance as not common and cases
of wilful casting away as rare. Perhaps the opinions of Lord Merrivale,
MacKinnon,
L.
J.,
and Branson.
J..
are of greater value. The Committee
were obviously impressed by the evidence presented by the insurance
interests, perhaps too much
so.
They nevertheless recommend that legisla-
tion shall
be
introduced in order to break up the system of insurances on
hull or hull and machinery giving cover on one valued policy against the
risks of total or constructive total loss, and also against the
risks
of par-
ticular average, general average, collision liability, etc. They think that
if
separate valuations were used the evil would largely disappear, especially
if
the limitations on the amount permitted to
be
insured which are insisted
upon by underwriters in the case of honour policies were made compulsory
in such cases.
It
is
difiicult to see how legislation on these lines can be
effective without the co-operation of the market, but the market could if it
liked produce its
own
remedy. R.
S.
T.
CHORLEY
The
Remrt
of
the
Departmantal
committee
on
Corporal
Punishmemt
Penal systems in almost every country have their glaring inconsistencies
-as
is
only fitting for this dark spot in human affairs where lack of logic
has always been regarded as an essential prerequisite. The retention of
corporal punishment
as
part of the--from most points of view-exemplary
English penal system is a mystery only to those who ignore the traditional
whims
of
penal reform throughout the world. Some other countries,
notorious for the brutality of their penal methods, profess abhorrence of
corporal punishment.
Is
it from a distaste for half-way measures that they
are afraid of releasing a man when they have made him an implacable
enemy of society by flogging
?
Is this the reason why they prefer to reserve
this form of treatment for those who are not released
at
all-or
is
it
sheer
inconsistency
?
The Report which gives rise to such reflections is an outstanding piece
of work, equally distinguished by the clarity of its expositions as by the
H.M.
Stationery
Office,
1938,
Cmd.
5684,
pp.
VI
+
153.
2s.
6d.
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