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Cox, Raymond --- "Choice of Law: New York and English Approaches to Insurance and Reinsurance Contracts" [2012] ELECD 163; in Burling, Julian; Lazarus, Kevin (eds), "Research Handbook on International Insurance Law and Regulation" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Research Handbook on International Insurance Law and Regulation

Editor(s): Burling, Julian; Lazarus, Kevin

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849807883

Section: Chapter 9

Section Title: Choice of Law: New York and English Approaches to Insurance and Reinsurance Contracts

Author(s): Cox, Raymond

Number of pages: 24

Extract:

9 Choice of law: New York and English approaches to
insurance and reinsurance contracts
Raymond Cox QC



1. INTRODUCTION

It seems an appropriate time to consider the laws applied to international insurance and
reinsurance business under the conflicts rules of New York and England. The Regulation
on the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations (the Regulation) has recently come
into effect in England and makes significant changes to the regime.1 New York law has,
since the 1950s, undergone a revolution in approach. London and New York are two of
the main international centres for insurance and reinsurance disputes, so there is a good
deal of material on which to draw for a comparison of the approach in each jurisdiction.
The basic issues faced in each jurisdiction in relation to international disputes are of
course largely similar. Should the parties be free to choose the applicable law? How should
the applicable law be identified where there has been no choice of law? What limits should
there be on party autonomy?
However, the context within which each jurisdiction exists is now very different. English
rules on the applicable law, once more or less the creature of common law, are now
exclusively contained in the civil and commercial field (with a few exceptions) in the
Regulation. The Regulation is applicable to all the states of the European Union (EU)
and must be capable of being operated by jurisdictions which are widely divergent in their
traditions and approaches. The New York rules on applicable ...