Genoa, 1340–1620: Early Development of Marine Insurance

Luisa Piccinno

Chapter 2 in Marine Insurance, 2016, pp 24-45 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Marine insurance is probably the oldest financial instrument intended solely to protect against the impact of fortuitous commercial losses. Its origins and early development have been debated by scholars for more than a century. Some have argued that the ancient Phoenicians and Greeks protected their maritime enterprises through systems of loans with a risk-transfer element. More ambiguous contracts which transferred the risk of oceangoing trade have also been identified. From very early on in the development of these instruments, states paid attention to such arrangements. Among the earliest evidence of state interest in such contracts is a Roman edict of the year 533, during the reign of Justinian.1 Conversely, other authoritative scholars argue that insurance in its modern form was unknown in the ancient world.2

Keywords: Insurance Market; Insurance Contract; Thirteenth Century; Fourteenth Century; Customary Practice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1057/9781137411389_2

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