Chapter 1 - Introduction

Summary

The history of marine insurance, lato sensu, has still to be written. This should not imply that one of the venerable forms of commercial protection has suffered from neglect, that scholars have passed the challenge of the subject. Rather the reverse, for the collections in libraries are eloquent and deal with many countries. A few names mentioned and the contribution becomes substantial. Classic authors such as Enrico Bensa and J.-M. Pardessus have a well-deserved reputation in the field. And different countries have not been backward in producing a wealth of talent: Violet Barbour, P. J. Blok, E. L. G. den Dooren de Jong, J. E. Elias, W. H. A. Elink Schuurman, I. Schöffer, H. G. Schuddebeurs, Z. W. Sneller and J. P. Vergouwen for The Netherlands; R. Ehrenberg, G. A. Kiesselbach, and J. F. Plass for Hamburg; C. Thorsen for Denmark; Giuseppe Felloni, Jacques Heers, Federigo Melis, Giuseppe Stefani, C. Schwarzenberg, and Alberto Tenenti for Italy; L. A. Boiteux, J. Delumeau, and H. Lafosse for France; M. B. Amzalak, N. Arié, and J. Piedade for Portugal; A. H. John, F. Martin, J. Trenerry, C. Wright and C. E. Fayle for London; and across the Atlantic, H. E. Gillingham and S. S. Huebner for the United States. The on-going bibliography already has remarkable distinction and there is much more besides.