By its very nature, marine insurance, and especially marine cargo insurance, more often than not finds application in a supranational setting: that of international trade. In past centuries, the governing principles of marine insurance law in different jurisdictions were largely uniform. This was in part due to their common origin in the Italian lex mercatoria and because merchants themselves realised that uniformity of law and practice enhanced international trade and commerce.

Now, after more than two centuries of divergence, the advantages of international uniformity in the law of marine insurance are again increasingly apparent. While we may never again reach the stage where there exists a truly international law of marine insurance, let alone an international customary law of marine insurance, the desire and need are growing for a closer approximation of national systems of marine insurance law.

And for such harmonisation not only of insurance law but also of contract terms and insurance practices to come about, an important if not indispensable first step involves a comparative analysis of the various national systems. What are the differences, and are they so big as to make harmonisation unattainable; and what are the similarities, and are they sufficiently close and numerous to make the effort of eradicating the differences worthwhile?

It is here that John Dunt’s latest project may well prove groundbreaking. A companion volume to his earlier Marine Cargo Insurance (2009), which set out the relevant principles of English law, International Cargo Insurance is a comparative lawyer’s delight.

An introductory Chapter 1 sets the scene, tracing the origin, earlier uniformity and subsequent divergence of marine insurance law and practice, and sketching the (if not failed, then at least as yet unproductive) attempts at harmonisation in the last century, both internationally and regionally.