risk

Risk

The potential danger that threatens to harm or destroy an object, event, or person.

A risk that is specified in an insurance policy is a contingency which might or might not occur. The policy promises to reimburse the person who suffers a loss resulting from the risk for the amount of damage done up to the financial limits of the policy.

In sales transactions, the contract and the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) determine who bears responsibility for the risk of loss of the merchandise until the buyer takes possession of the goods.

West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

risk

n. chances of danger or loss, particularly of property covered by an insurance policy, or property being used or transported by another. Insurance companies assume the risk of loss and calculate their premiums by the value and the risk based on statistically determined chances. A trucking company assumes the risk of loss while carrying goods. (See: assumption of risk, risk of loss)

Copyright © 1981-2005 by Gerald N. Hill and Kathleen T. Hill. All Right reserved.

risk

1 the possibility of loss or harm occurring. Normally, the risk of accidental destruction lies with the owner. In respect of goods, the position is regulated by the Sale of Goods Act 1979. Unless otherwise agreed, the goods remain at the seller's risk until the property in them is transferred to the buyer, but when the property in them is transferred to the buyer the goods are at the buyer's risk whether delivery has been made or not. This section expresses the maxim res perit domino (‘ownership is lost with the thing’), and the 1893 Act represented a change in the common law of Scotland, which was that risk passed as soon as the contract was formed regardless of the fact that property might not have passed by traditio. In respect of generic sales, the rule does not apply. The applicable maxim in such cases is genus nunquam perit: i.e. ‘no commodity ceases to exist’. This principle applies even if the seller's stock from which he had intended to fulfil his bargain is accidentally destroyed. Goods maybe treated as having perished when they are so damaged that they no longer answer to the description under which they were sold. It is however, open to the parties to make their own agreement as to risk. The time of destruction of the goods is important. Where there is a contract for the sale of specific goods, and the goods, without the knowledge of the seller, have perished at the time when the contract is made, the contract is void. Where there is an agreement to sell specific goods and subsequently the goods, without any fault on the part of the seller or buyer, perish before the risk passes to the buyer, the agreement is avoided. Where delivery has been delayed through the fault of either buyer or seller, the goods are at risk of the party at fault as regards any loss that might not have occurred but for such fault. Fault for these purposes is defined as a wrongful act or default. ‘Default’ means a lack of reasonable care in the circumstances. Innovation in 2002 in favour of consumers alters the rules on risk where the buyer deals as a consumer or, in Scotland, where there is a consumer contract in which the buyer is a consumer, the traditional rules are ignored and the goods remain at the seller's risk until they are delivered to the consumer.

2 in the law of insurance, the danger, peril or event insured against.

Collins Dictionary of Law © W.J. Stewart, 2006

RISK. A danger, a peril to which a thing is exposed. The subject will be divided by considering, 1. Risks with regard to insurances. 2. Risks in the contracts of sale, barter, &c.
     2.-Sec. 1. In the contract of insurance, the insurer takes upon him the risks to which the subject of the insurance is exposed, and agrees to indemnify the insured when a loss occurs. This is equally the case in marine and terrestrial insurance. But as the rules which govern these several contracts are not the same, the subject of marine risks will be considered, and, afterwards, of terrestrial risks.
     3.-1st. Marine risks are perils which are incident to a sea voyage; 1 Marsh. Ins. 215; or those fortuitous events which may happen in the course of the voyage. Poth. Contr. d'assur. n. 49; Pardes. Dr. Com. n. 770. It will be proper to consider, 1. Their nature. 2. Their duration.
     4.-1. The nature of the risks usually insured against. These risks may be occasioned by storms, shipwreck, jetsam, prize, pillage, fire, war, reprisals, detention by foreign governments, contribution to losses experienced for the common benefit, or for expenses which would not have taken place if it had not been for such events. But the insurer may by special contract limit his responsibility for these risks. He may insure against all risks, or only against enumerated risks; for the benefit of particular persons, or for whom it may concern. 2 Wash. C. C. R. 346; 1 John. Cas. 337; 2 John. Cas. 480 1 Pet. 151 2 Mass.,365; 8 Mass. 308. The law itself has made some exceptions founded on public policy, which require that in certain cases men shall not be permitted to protect themselves against some particular perils by insurance; among these are, first, that no man can insure any loss or damage proceeding directly from his own fault. 1 John. Cas. 337; Poth. h.t. n. 65; Pard. h.t. n. 771; Marsh. Ins. 215. Secondly, nor can be insure risks or perils of the sea, upon a trade forbidden by the laws. Thirdly, the risks excluded by the usual memorandum (q.v.) contained in the policy. Marsh. Ins. 221.
     5. As the insurance is upon maritime risks, the accidents must have happened on the sea, unless the agreement include other risks. The loss by accidents which might happen on land in the course of the voyage, even when the unloading may have been authorized by the policy, or is required by local regulations, as where they are necessary for sanitary measures, is not borne by the insurer. Pard. Dr. Com. n. 770.
     6.-2. As to the duration of the risk. The commencement and end of the risk depend upon the words of the policy. The insurer may take and modify what risks he pleases. The policy may be on a voyage out, or a voyage in, or it may be for part of the route, or for a limited time, or from port to port. See 3 Kent, Com. 254; Pard. Dr. Com. n. 775; Marsh. 246; 1 Binn. 592. The duration of the risk on goods is considered in Marsh. Ins. 247 a; on ships, p. 280; on freight, p. 278, and 12 Wheat. 383.
     7.-2d. In insurances against fire, the risks and losses insured against, are all losses or damages by fire; but, as in cases of marine insurances, this may be limited as to the things insured, or as to the cause or occasion of the accident, and many policies exclude fires caused by a mob or the enemies of the commonwealth. The duration of the policy is limited by its own provisions.
     8.-3d. In insurances on lives, the risks are the death of the party from whatever cause, but in general the following risks are excepted, namely: 1. Death abroad or in a district excluded by the terms of the policy. 2. Entering into the naval or military service without the consent of the insurer. 3. Death by suicide. 4. Death by duelling. 5. Death by the hands of justice. See Insurance on lives. The duration of the risks is limited by the terms of the policy.
     9.-Sec. 2. As a general rule, whenever the sale has been completed; the risk of loss of the things sold is upon the buyer; but until it is complete, and while something remains to be done by either party, in relation to it, the risk is on the seller; as, if the goods are to be weighed or measured. See Sale.
    10. In sales, the risks to which property is exposed and the loss which may occur, before the contract is fully complete, must be borne by him in whom the title resides: when the bargain, therefore, is made and rendered binding by giving earnest, or by part payment, or part delivery, or by a compliance with the requisitions of the statute of frauds, the property, and with it the risk, attaches to the purchaser. 2 Kent, Com. 392.
    11. In Louisiana, as soon as the contract of sale is completed, the thing sold is at the risk of the buyer, but with the following modifications: Until the thing sold is delivered to the buyer, the seller is obliged to guard it as a faithful administrator, and if through his want of care, the thing is destroyed, or its value diminished, the seller is responsible for the loss. He is released from this degree of care, when the buyer delays obtaining the possession: but he is still liable for any injury which the thing sold may sustain through gross neglect on his part. If it is the seller who delays to deliver the thing, and it be destroyed, even by a fortuitous event, it is be who sustains the loss, unless it appears that the fortuitous event would equally have occasioned the destruction of the thing in the buyer's possession, after delivery. Art. 2442-2445. For the rules of the civil law on this subject, see Inst. 2, 1, 41; Poth. Contr. de Vente, 4eme partie, n. 308, et seq.

A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States. By John Bouvier. Published 1856.