Jackson v Union Marine Insurance

Jackson v Union Marine Insurance is an early English contract law case concerning the right of parties to an agreement to terminate that agreement.

Facts

Mr. Jackson owned a ship - the Spirit of the Dawn. In November 1871 he entered a charter-party for the ship to go from Liverpool to Newport, and load iron rails, which were going to be used for a new line in San Francisco. Mr Jackson also had an insurance policy with Union Marine Insurance, which covered losses for "perils of the sea". The ship left on 2 January 1872 but ran aground in Carnarvon Bay the next day. She needed repairs until August. The charterers on 15 February secured another ship to carry the rails. Jackson brought an action on the insurance policy on the chartered freight.
The jury held that the delay for repairs was so long that it brought the contract in a commercial sense to an end.

Judgment

Bramwell B held with the majority that the jury had been correct. The delay meant the charterers were not bound to load the ship and that there was a loss of the chartered freight by perils of the sea.