The ship was insured against the perils of the sea by a policy containing a warranty against all consequences of hostilities. While voyaging to Le Havre, she was torpedoed by a German submarine 25 miles from port. She began to settle by the head, but helped by tugs got to Le Havre and was taken alongside a quay in the outer harbour. A gale caused her to bump against a quay and the harbour authorities, fearing that she would block the quay, ordered her to moor at a berth inside the outer breakwater. She was there for two days, taking the ground at each ebb tide, but floating with the flood. At last her bulkheads gave way and she sank, becoming a total loss. In an action brought by the shipowners on the policy claiming to recover as for loss by perils of the sea, the House of Lords held that the grounding of the vessel was not a novus actus interveniens and that the torpedoing was the proximate cause of the loss and that consequently the underwriters were protected by the warranty against all consequences of hostilities. The ‘proximate cause’ under the 1906 Act need not always be the event closest in time to the incident. The proximate cause is that which is proximate in efficiency.
Court: HL
Date: 01-Jan-1918
Statutes: Marine Insurance Act 1906 55(1)
References: [1918] AC 350,
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Leyland Shipping Co Ltd -v- Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society Ltd adalah kasus yang sangat terkenal di dunia Asuransi dan hampir tidak pernah tidsak diceritakan tatkala menerangkan tentang apa yang dimaksud dengan “the proximate cause” dan novus actus interveniens
novus actus interveniens
[Latin: a new intervening act] An intervening act that breaks the chain of causation
the proximate cause
The active, efficient cause that sets in motion a train of events which brings about a result, without the intervention of any force started and working actively from a new and independent source (Pawsey v Scottish Union and National, 1907).
(Penyebab yang aktif, efisien yang berlangsung dalam suatu rangkaian yang menimbulkan suatu akibat, tanpa adanya intervensi dari setiap kekuatan, yang dimulai dan beroperasi secara aktif dari sumber/sebab baru yang berdiri sendiri)