Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

Common law definition

What does Common law mean? In practice, common law means judge‑made rules developed through case law and applied by courts when resolving disputes, filling gaps where no statute applies, and guiding statutory interpretation. It is not defined by legislation; it is a descriptive label for principles articulated in judicial decisions and followed under the doctrine of precedent (stare decisis). Key features include incremental development, binding effect according to the court hierarchy, and availability of judge‑made remedies. It encompasses both common law and (in England & Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland) equitable doctrines, such as fiduciary duties, trusts and injunctions. In Scotland, the mixed system uses...

Reinsurance loss settlement clauses under English law: follow the settlements, qualified Hill v Mercantile & General provisions, proof of loss, and interaction with claims co-operation and control clauses

Published by a LexisNexis Insurance & Reinsurance expert

Practice notes

Loss settlement clauses

Reinsurance agreements can be set up on a proportional or a non‑proportional basis, and loss settlement clauses appear across both structures. Their core role is to capture the parties’ consensus on how the reinsured can evidence its loss when seeking to recover under the reinsurance. It documents the evidential route and threshold to be followed in presenting any reinsurance claim, where applicable by the reinsured party. Where the reinsurer has adequate confidence in its cedant’s handling of inwards claims, the usual aim is to ease the reinsured’s evidential burden that would otherwise arise at common law, and to reduce the need for reinsurers to re‑examine the underlying claims. Certain loss settlement provisions also include express safeguards or provisos to prevent the reinsurer’s bargain being defeated by binding settlements that fall outside the granted cover. Wording dealing with loss settlement may further be paired with incorporation language that brings across the terms and conditions of the underlying policy, aligning the extent of cover with that policy (commonly, though not solely, in proportional treaties). The classic illustration is the ‘full reinsurance clause’, which imports the original insurance terms into the reinsurance contract while also setting out the parties’ arrangements as to...

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Professor Özlem Gürses

King’s College London

Özlem Gürses is a professor of commercial law at King's College London. She is a Committee Member of BILA, sits in Presidential Council of AIDA and Vice-Chair of the Reinsurance Working Party. As well as King's College London Özlem teaches insurance, reinsurance and marine insurance law at several other institutions in home and abroad including the University of Hamburg, World Maritime University, National University of Singapore, Queen Mary-University of London. Özlem is the author of a number of books on insurance and reinsurance law, the most widely known of which probably is Marine Insurance Law (a student textbook) and the latest book she published is on the compulsory motor vehicle insurance....

Adam Strong

HFW

Adam specialises in dispute resolution in the insurance and reinsurance sector. Adam also has significant experience of commercial and investor/state international arbitration. He has acted in arbitrations under a number of the common institutional rules including ICSID, ICC, ARIAS, UNCITRAL and LCIA. Adam has higher rights of audience and his court experience includes a number of cases that have progressed to the Court of Appeal. He also has experience of asset preservation and freezing orders. Adam’s insurance experience encompasses a number of classes of business including financial institutions, professional indemnity, product liability, warranty and indemnity, cyber, and commercial general liability. His reinsurance experience is equally extensive and, in particular, includes advising clients on disputes involving some of the more unusual hybrid reinsurance/capital markets products. Adam is recommended as a key lawyer in the current edition of Legal 500 2024. He upholds an excellent...

Web page updated on 29/05/2026

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