Risk and Insurance Law

• Credit value: 15 credits at Level 6
• Convenor: Professor Michelle Everson
• Tutor: Professor Bill Bowring/Professor Adam Gearey
• Assessment: a 3500-word workbook (100%)

Insurance dominates many aspects of our private and commercial lives. Yet, many are of the mistaken opinion that insurance is dull. This module introduces you to the primary functions and characteristics of insurance within our modern world. At the same time, it offers you the possibility to deepen your core knowledge of contract/commercial law. You will learn about risk and (public and private) solidarity, and the role of (public and private) insurance in sustaining social solidarity.

Indicative module syllabus

• The concept of risk
• Solidarity vs actuarial communities of risk pooling
• The history of insurance: private insurance and markets; public insurance and social solidarity (welfare state)
• Insurance regulation (I): prudential regulation (finance and investment)
• Insurance regulation (II): material regulation (contract terms and consumer protection)
• Insurance contract law: warranties
• Insurance contract law: unjust enrichment
• The integration of the EU insurance market and its relationship with the UK market post-Brexit
• Global insurance markets: global regulation (?)
• The insurance: public-private cross overs and the question of whether we can conceive of a better (socially just) insurance mechanism

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• explain the concept of risk to a lay audience
• explain how insurance can be used to mitigate risk
• detail the differences between actuarial (private) and social solidarity (public)
• explain which insurance forms underpin which forms of public and private solidarity
• understand prudential and material insurance supervision
• understand the basic elements of insurance contract law (advanced contract law/unjust enrichment/warranties).