Jess has written a book that is on the whole well researched, well organized, well written and reliable in its content. It is a welcome book in that it deals with a subject on which a dearth of meritorious writing exists.

Ambitious in its conception, this book “seeks to provide a comprehensive source of reference for practitioners concerned with insurance law”. No text of 325 pages can achieve such a goal and to attempt such is folly. Indeed, this reviewer is convinced that no bound volume can or ought to attempt to be a comprehensive source of reference. Such, if possible, must be provided in loose-leaf publications, which themselves eventually will be superseded by computer data bases. Only then will the problem of currency be adequately coped with (assuming that effective systems are maintained).

What, then, is left to the author of a bound volume? Consciously courting the risks of over-simplification, this reviewer believes that books for practitioners should, on the one hand, contain critical, possibly comparative analysis and/or confide the benefits of practical experience or, on the other hand, provide a compact introduction to its subject: a starting point for the unfamiliar. This book fulfils the latter function.

The book contains descriptions of 12 types of commercial insurance policies (parts II and III); precedents of key types of policies (appendix) and an exposition of the law relevant to entering into, construing and claiming under insurance contracts (parts I and IV). It is a good applied contract law book, emphasizing the more important aspects of insurance contract law: the duty of disclosure (dealt with under the unfortunate heading “Concealment”, which implies a conscious withholding of information—not a necessary part of breach of the duty) and the principle of indemnity.

It is unfortunate that Jess confines his subject-matter to essentially applied contract law. It is trite to recite that those concerned with insurance of commercial risks require an appreciation of a broader range of law relating to insurance. It is, however, helpful to identify specific topics which could be profitably fitted into an introductory text.

Regulation is a topic of increasing importance to insurance. In particular, developments in the European Economic Community will soon require introduction of regulation of the content of insurance contracts (see the Draft Council Directive on the co-ordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to insurance contracts O.J. No. C 190/2 (28.7.79) as amended: O.J. No. C 355/30 (31.12.80)).

Jess makes no mention of those cases which deal with the effect on insurance contracts of failure to obtain from the Department of Trade and Industry authorization to conduct insurance business. Conflicting first instance decisions existing at the time this book was published have since been resolved by Phoenix General Insurance Co. of Greece S.A. v. Halvanon Ins. Co. Ltd. [1987] 2 W.L.R. 512 (see Hermann, “Punishing the Innocent”, Financial Times, 20 November 1986), a case of major importance to the law governing claims under an insurance contract which sent a shock wave through the City.

The problems posed by the use of intermediaries in the arrangement of insurance is another area which would profit from discrete examination. The role of arbitration in insurance dispute resolution also deserves attention. An outline, for example, of those situations in which an assured can commence proceedings in court which will not be stayed due to the existence of an arbitration clause would be a valuable addition.

Turning to the type of commercial risks policies described, credit insurance, in relation to which the Export Credit Guarantee Department plays an important role, is a notable omission of importance to advisers of export traders in particular.