The Origin and Development of Reinsurance

During the past few years there has been a quickening of interest internationally in the major aspects of reinsurance history, theory and practice. The peculiar development of the national and international economy of the European countries since the World War has apparently made reinsurance the backbone of the whole of private property insurance. This accounts for the greatly extended literature on the subject in recent years. Classic doctrines of risk, theorems in the calculus of probabilities, principles of insurance law, long neglected, are being brought forward by writers on reinsurance.* There is vitality and depth in recent reinsurance literature which has been lacking in the literature of the direct lines for many a decade. Thorin's recent work~2 t is one sign of revival. Unfortunately not much has been contributed to this discussion recently in the United States.