A Study Of The Insurer’s Duty Of Explaining

Compared to the insurant’s duty of disclosure, the insurer’s duty of explaining hasn’t been attached great attention to either among scholars or in practice. Nowadays standard terms are usually adopted in an insurance contract due to the high specialty and technicality of insurance activities, which puts insurants in an unfavorable position when entering into an insurance contract. The establishment and perfection of the insurer’s duty of explaining plays an important role in protecting insured’s interests and improving insurance law system. Article 17 of our new Insurance Law is the specific regulation concerning the insurer’s duty of explaining. The effect of its implementation isn’t as good as it was thought to be.As the regulation is devoid of clarity and maneuverability, there are disputes and conflicts in practice, which has a negative impact on the insurance industry’s healthy development. The author tries to compare the legislation and practice at home and abroad and analyze the deficiency of our insurance law and regulation and problems in practice in order to reestablish and improve our system of the insurer’s duty of explaining.This thesis unfolds in three parts. Chapter One is to briefly introduce the concept and characteristics of the insurer’s duty of explaining followed by a detailed analysis of economic and legal theories to justify the insurer’s duty of explaining; Chapter Two is to introduce and compare the legislation and practice of the insurer’s duty of explaining in civil law countries and common law countries respectively. Chapter Three is to assess the current system of the insurer’s duty of explaining in China and to provide advices on the reestablishment and improvement of the system.