Life Insurance Law


In the middle 1950’s as a young lawyer, I had to tackle a suit on Marine Insurance; and was impressed by its complexities.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Preface, Life Insurance Law

And with that, began Dr Myint Soe’s love affair with insurance. Thus, the present book Life Insurance Law, published by the Singapore College of Insurance (‘SCI’), encapsulates his half-a-century of experience in academia and private practice. It should be on the bookshelf of every serious student, lawyer and practitioner of life insurance.

Life insurance is a pervasive apparatus of modern living; one would be hard-pressed to find a household in Singapore that does not own it. Life insurance supports many businesses and shields families from exigencies.

This book should go some way to help unravel the many mysteries of life insurance law. Starting with chapter one, we are brought to the time when English law was introduced in the Straits Settlements in the 1820s. The book traces the development of life insurance law in Singapore and Malaysia through the years, drawing on the many notable cases that have helped shape its development. It should certainly qualify itself as a useful resource and a good starting reference point for law students and lawyers.

It would also be an essential reference for insurance, financial services and wealth management professionals and practitioners in Singapore. It has been made a required text for a professional designation course in life insurance called the Chartered Life Underwriter (‘CLU’).

Its wide coverage of the many complex issues relating to life insurance is enlightening if not entertaining. The regulatory framework on the sale and arrangement of life insurance has also not stood still, and this book delves into recent statutory and regulatory developments that have shaped the way life insurance products are to be sold in Singapore today.

Dr Myint Soe has spent some time and effort in analysing the troublesome aspects of the law on s 73 of the Conveyancing Law of Property Act (‘CLPA’) on trust policies which is expected to be repealed soon, but will still apply to existing policies. Some of the other noteworthy topics addressed are the Malaysian treatment of statutory provisions on nominations and trusts relating to life policies, a tour de force of the Financial Advisers Act 2001 and his frank assessment of whether the Life Insurance Association Statement of Life Insurance Practice is an effective self-policing mechanism.

In short, the book does a fine job in helping the reader:

1    obtain a historical perspective of how the legal system evolved;

2    understand the most fundamental principles of life insurance law, such as non-disclosure, misrepresentation, estoppel and incontestability;

3    examine the tips and traps behind some of the most common contract provisions, such as assignment, surrender and mis-statement; and

4    get updated on recent legislation on statutory trusts and the Insurance Acts of Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.

Dr Myint Soe has been known in the insurance circles in Singapore and Malaysia for over 30 years. He took an active part in the formation of the Singapore Insurance Training Centre (‘SITC’) now known as the Singapore College of Insurance (‘SCI’) and has been on the Board of Governors from 1974 to the present date. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Examiners of SCI. In 1992, he was made an Honorary Member of the Singapore Insurance Institute (‘SII’) for his outstanding contribution to the insurance industry of Singapore.

In the end, writing a book on life insurance law is anything but easy as seen by his humble admission that ‘writing this book for the Singapore College of Insurance has been a painful experience but a satisfactory experience.’ This is a book that should have been written a long time ago, and we are fortunate that he has succumbed to the persistent requests of the College and has finally written it.

Keon Chee

Singapore College of Insurance