Many decisions have been written in the field of insurance law1. Some new legislation has been enacted. It is a long journey from my first day in the law when my companion was Frank Marks. We were articled clerks together. He taught me many practical things.
Insurance law is an intensely practical subject.
It is greatly to the credit of Frank Marks, and his wife Audrey Balla, that they have assumed the responsibility of updating and rewriting their work. It does not surprise me to see much evidence in this revised edition of the same practical attitude to the law and legal problems that I encountered in the small solicitor's office in Sydney that we shared forty years ago. Inevitably, there have been difficulties as that major reforming statute has been applied to the millions of insurance transactions that have taken place since its passage through the Australian Parliament. Even in the time that I have been sitting on the High Court, a number of important cases have been decided which illustrate the scope for judicial differences about the meaning and application of the Act. We should not be too surprised about this.