Warranties and doctrine of alteration of risk during the insurance period: A critical evaluation of the UK Law Commissions’ proposals for reform of the law of warranties

This paper critically discusses the proposals by the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission for reform of the law of warranties, examines the doctrine of alteration of risk as an alternative approach for risk management during the insurance period, and considers the possibility for the promissory warranty to be replaced by the doctrine of alteration of risk. It is argued that the Law Commissions’ proposals for reform of the law are insufficient in terms of mitigating the harshness and unfairness of remedies for breach of warranty. The remedies in the doctrine of alteration of risk are much fairer than those for breach of a warranty. An appropriate model to deal with increase of risk during insurance period is proposed.