Image credit- blog.ipleaders.in
The phrase, "act of God" or vis major, has been the subject of considerable litigation because a defendant who otherwise would be liable for the safety of another's person or property may be absolved of such liability when there fortuitously occurs an act of God. The question of what is act of God has been repeatedly asked at various circumstances by various imminent jurists and legal practitioners , but the answer to this is never defined and is always variable in accordance with the situation and nature of case. In the cases of act of God the element of surprise is always present. [1]
In broader sense an act of God can be defined as every occurrence that takes place on earth. In legal sense it can be defined as an irresistible superhuman cause such as no ordinary or reasonable human foresight, prudence, diligence, and care could have anticipated and prevented.
Because God's acts come almost inevitably from the forces of nature, "it is important to look at the different manifestations of nature in To ascertain how the courts distinguished natural strength That is God's act from that which is not. Force Majeure is another defence under the clause of inevitable accidents . Both the terms means the same in literal sense but in legal use both have different meanings . God's action includes all causes of an inevitable accident that are caused by elementary forces of nature that are not directly or indirectly linked to any human agency or other cause, whereas Force Majeure has a more wider ambit It involves not only natural powers, but also other factors that may not be connected to nature and can be directly and indirectly linked to human activity, but which are not regulated or managed by human beings involved in the incident.
To this point, this term has been used in both the legal and insurance industries where insurance providers cannot be sued for damages resulting from any case protected by the word 'Act of God.' This term has been used to this extent in both the legal and insurance sectors where insurance companies can not be sued for damages arising from any event covered by the phrase 'Act of God.' This provision, along with the force majeure provision, can be seen and noted in various insurance policy and agreement papers and in other contracts where the clause of both the Act of God and the Force Majeure can be used as a security to the contracting parties if the duty has not been fulfilled due to unregulated force of nature or event such as wars and machinery or state act which can be beyond control. In Indian context the clause of Act of God is observed mostly under the clause of force majeure.[2]
For most insurance company policy papers, which usually deal with property and business policies, the harm caused by God's Act or force majeure is not covered. It was held in the case of Union of India (UOI) v. Vijaya Kumar and Ors Prabhakaran[3]. Were the Honorable Judge expressed God's Act and other forms of inevitable accidents as an exception for damages to be paid and strict liability. In another case of Kerala Transport Co. v. Kunnath Textiles[4], the court held that those actions which do not include human intervention will be considered to be actions of god but other unavoidable incidents will be treated as Force Majeure. In other case of P.K. Kalasami Nadar v. K. Ponnuswami Mudaliar and Ors[5]., the court defined Act of God and said that accidental fire which may not be caused by human interfere cannot be said as act of god.
In all of these cases the court looked into the circumstances leading to the incident and if those were not under the control of human and if was not under the control of humans, and if damages were occurred to the good because of those incidents then it can’t be claimed from the insurance policy.
Due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, which causes the novel coronavirus disease called COVID-19, Force Major Provisions are top of mind for many businesses today. Typically, "pandemics" are not specified in major contractual force clauses in general, but "acts of God" together with a number of other contract relief bases are but it is yet to establish the origin of this pandemic and the forces behind it before making any claims .
[1] https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3492&context=wlulr. [2] https://www.lawctopus.com/academike/understanding-differences-act-god-force-majeure/. [3] Union of India (UOI) Vs. Prabhakaran Vijaya Kumar and Ors. 2008(5)ALLMR(SC)917. [4] Kerala Transport Co. v. Kunnath Textiles, 1984ACJ440. [5] P.K. Kalasami Nadar v. K. Ponnuswami Mudaliar and Ors., AIR 1962 Mad 44. References- 1. https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/legally-speaking-what-is-an-act-of-god-31732. Author-Aeshna Raghuwanshi, Content Writer, Legal Eagle