Looking back and moving forward - insurance law in 1826 and now

Time-travel with us to the year 1826 and learn how case law and legislation emerging then have shaped English insurance law and the UK insurance industry. Speakers: Prof. Robert Merkin KC (University of Reading) Prof Philip Rawlings (Queen Mary, University of London and UCL) Chair: Dr Franziska Arnold-Dwyer (UCL) About the event: As we are celebrating UCL’s bicentenary, we explore what insurance law looked like to lawyers and City merchants in 1826. Then as now, insurance underpins trade, (marine) transport, and innovation, and is interconnected with social and economic policies. Whilst insurance contract law set and continues to provide the default rules for contracts between insureds and insurers, legislation touching on the regulation of insurers has pursued a variety of policy goals and has used different regulatory tools over the centuries. Prof Robert Merkin’s talk will be delivered as an ‘1826 Insurance Law Update’ and will, in addition to examining the significance of the cases and legislation in 1825, provide a wider context on the state of Britain’s trade and colonial expansion at this time. In his talk Professor Rawlings will discuss how developments in insurance brought fundamental changes to company law in the 1820s, opening insurance to joint-stock companies, and how these developments were part of a broader shift in social and economic thinking on issues ranging from the slave trade to university education. About the speakers: To anyone in the insurance world, neither speaker needs any introduction. Prof Robert Merkin KC is a Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Reading and has held honorary and visiting professorships at numerous universities abroad. He is the author of leading texts on insurance law in the UK and a number of common law jurisdictions. He is also the author of Marine Insurance Law: a Legal History (Edward Elgar, 2021) and various articles on insurance law history. He edits the Lloyd’s Law Reports, the Journal of Business Law, Insurance Law Monthly and Arbitration Law Monthly, and is on the editorial board of a number of journals in Britain and other countries. He is also on the panels of the international arbitral institutions of Singapore, New Zealand and Hong Kong. Prof Philip Rawlings is Emeritus Professor at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, QMUL, and Honorary Professor at UCL. Previously, he was Professor of Finance Law at UCL and then the inaugural Roy Goode Professor of Commercial Law and Deputy Director at CCLS. He was also a committee member of the British Insurance Law Association. Professor Rawlings is the author of more than 80 books and papers, including the book, Insurance Law: Doctrines and Principles.