All insurance contracts are fiduciary contracts, that is to say they imply a level of trust on both sides, on the part of the insured and the insurer. The utmost good faith (uberrimae fidei) constitutes the basis of all these contracts. The insurer and the insured must respect this principle. This essay will examine the role of the insurer and the insured in ensuring full disclosure of all material facts. Disclosure of information is of crucial importance, as failure to disclose it may result in the contract being void. We will examine cases where utmost good faith and disclosure of material facts were crucial. Section 17 of the Marine Insurance Act 1906 states: "A contract of marine insurance is a contract based on the utmost good faith and, if the utmost good faith is not observed by the one of the parties, the contract can be canceled by the other party. » This law also specifies in article 18 that the obligation of disclosure falls on the insured because only the insured has full knowledge of the risk and therefore the lack of disclosure on the part of the insured can allow the insurer to cancel the contract. In other words, this law places responsibility for disclosure on the insured and, in doing so, prevents fraud, but it may also allow the insurer to avoid paying, i.e. terminate the contract if it can demonstrate that the insured failed to disclose. the first historic insurance case dealing with disclosure was Carter v. Boehm (1776). Carter took out insurance to cover Fort Marlborough in the East Indies. The insurance covered attacks against foreign invasions. They knew they would be able to withstand an attack on the natives, but the French army managed to overrun the fort. The insurance company argued that the fort's inability to withstand attack... middle of paper ....... g. where the insured does not “read and check the questions and answers carefully enough”. (Ombudsman news May/June 2005) In the event of non-disclosure, it is then up to the insured to prove that the policyholder would have entered into the same contract if he or she had been aware of the undisclosed facts. In Aro Road and LandVehicle V. The Insurance Corporation of Ireland (1986), the undisclosed fact was that the insured was a convicted criminal. The insurer insured the vehicle for the transport of goods. The vehicle caught fire. The insurer claimed that the material fact that the insured was a criminal had not been revealed and that this would have influenced its judgment. The court agreed, but the appeals court said there was no direct connection between the material fact and the burning car and ruled that the insurance company had to pay..