The Volokh Conspiracy

Uberrimae Fidei, Back in the News:

From Judge Kozinski's opinion yesterday in New Hampshire Ins. Co. v. C'Est Moi, Inc.:

We consider the doctrine that’s on everyone’s lips: uberrimae fidei.

For more on this, see here. Thanks to James S. Tyre for the pointer.

Related Posts (on one page):

  1. Uberrimae Fidei, Back in the News:
  2. Uberrimae Fidei:
Westie:
That's an interesting opinion. Kozinski acknowledges that the 9th Circuit is holding here contrary to the rule of the 11th. He then urges the 11th to reconsider its rule at its next opportunity, apparently because the 9th is infallible, or certainly more likely to be correct.
I half expect the 11th to respond, pointing upwards, "Scoreboard!"
3.20.2008 6:45pm
Proctor John (mail):
Yes! Keep those admiralty cases coming. And note that the visiting judge was Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum (she of Martha Stewart fame) of the SDNY, the leading admiralty court in the nation.
3.20.2008 7:45pm
Egotistical Jerk:
I feel so vindicated. See my comment to the previous Uberrimae Fidei post, available at http://volokh.com/posts/1203482008.shtml ("The term is used frequently in the law of insurance contracts."). Of course, it stands to reason that I would feel vindicated; after all, I'm an egotistical jerk.
3.21.2008 8:35am
Mrs L:
I'm studying insurance law (for a professional qualification in insurance, not to learn to practice law) and there is an entire chapter of my course book on uberrimae fidei.

Are there any Latin scholars in this thread who can say how it is meant to be pronounced?
3.21.2008 3:46pm
martinned (mail) (www):
L.S.,

@Mrs L: Based on a recommendation in a comment on this blog, I read A.P. Herbert's Uncommon Law this week. It also contains a chapter on the pronunciation of latin, with a judge and a barrister misunderstanding each other due to their different ideas about latin pronunciation. Having taken latin in high school but not since, I'd have to say that the pronunciation of latin differs greatly from country to country, and, especially for lawyer's latin, usually has little connection to the way the Romans might have pronounced it. (No one knows, that's one of the problems.)

That said, ae is pronounced ai, and for the rest I would say that fidei is pronounced as having three sillables, so fi/de/i, although I guess fi/dei would also be ok, and the u is anybody's guess, although I think I would pronounce it as in the German ü, so short.

Good luck.
3.22.2008 1:30pm

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