Page 26 - Insurance Times November 2019

insurers are only liable to indemnify the insured as per the a person, or the insertion of an instrument to remove
value of property at the time of policy was taken out. property. Insertion of a tool to gain entry may not
However, there are some exceptions in this rule. In case, constitute entering by itself and there must be a breaking
the insurer agree to pay a fixed sum insured on the and entering for common-law burglary. Breaking without
happening of a given event for which the insurance policy entry or entry without breaking is not sufficient for
was taken out irrespective of whether the assured suffers common-law burglary and the common law required that
a loss or not then the insurance policy ceases to be a "entry occur as a consequence of the breaking" House
contract of indemnity. includes a temporarily unoccupied dwelling, but not a
building used only occasionally as a habitation.
Contracts of burglary insurance are generally
contracts of indemnity. This is because the loss caused in It is the intention to break into a building without any
case of burglary can generally be ascertained. However, this consent with the intent of committing a crime inside.
may not always be the case. If the contract stipulates that Burglary can be considered as specific intention of burglar
the insurer agrees to pay a fixed sun irrespective of the who intentionally entering to building to commit a crime.
amount of loss caused to the assured, it will not be a Burglary is also called breaking or entering or
contract of indemnity. housebreaking. This breaking can include actions such as
forcing opening a door, or constructive, such as by fraud
If such case a clause added to an insurance policy, it is more or threats. It is an unlawful entry into a building or any
beneficial to both parties, since, the insurer is hedging his other location with an intention of committing an offence.
risks against the big losses and the insured is getting a fixed Mostly this offence is theft, but sometimes may
sum on every loss thus giving him security. Therefore, a jurisdictions include others within the ambit of burglary.
contract of indemnity can be defined as an insurance policy
in which the value of the property is decided fore hand and It is for the sake of insurance, burglary is something that
is binding against both the assured and the insurer. occurs when your house or office is broken into by force.
For instance, the breaking in of a door or a window to get
Meaning and Definition of Burglary inside the premises is all signs that the house or office was
burgled and robbed. It is also the entering of the property
The word burglar comes from the two German words burg,
of another with intent to commit a crime therein.
meaning "house", and laron, meaning "thief" (literally
"house thief"). The Latin word burgare, "to break open" The insurance policies are taken against the loss of burglary,
or "to commit burglary", from burgus, meaning "fortress" theft have an exhaustive definition of burglary in their
or "castle", with the word then passing through French and respective contracts, but in the absence of precise
Middle English, with influence from the Latin latro, "thief". definition under the law of insurance, recourse must be
taken to criminal law to define burglary in terms of THEFT
It is also called breaking and entering and sometimes
housebreaking, is an unlawful entry into a building or other and it is an standard rule of interpretation if technical terms
are used in a legal document then they have to be given
location for the purposes of committing an offence. Usually
that offence is theft, but most jurisdictions include others
within the ambit of burglary. To engage in the act of
burglary is to burgle in British English, a term back-formed
from the word burglar, or to burglarize in American English.

Legal Law of Burglary

It can be either actual, such as by forcing open a door, or
constructive, such as by fraud or threats. Breaking does not
require that anything be "broken" in terms of physical
damage occurring. A person who has permission to enter
part of a house, but not another part, commits a breaking
and entering, when they use any means to enter a room
where they are not permitted, so long as the room was not
open to enter. Entering can involve either physical entry by

26 The Insurance Times, November 2019