Fire and Life Insurance in the Dutch Republic
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Sirks, D. (2022). Fire and Life Insurance in the Dutch Republic. Development and legal aspects. Duncker & Humblot. https://doi.org/10.3790/978-3-428-58350-8
Sirks, Delphine. Fire and Life Insurance in the Dutch Republic: Development and legal aspects. Duncker & Humblot, 2022. Book. https://doi.org/10.3790/978-3-428-58350-8
Sirks, D (2022): Fire and Life Insurance in the Dutch Republic: Development and legal aspects, Duncker & Humblot, [online] https://doi.org/10.3790/978-3-428-58350-8
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Fire and Life Insurance in the Dutch Republic
Development and legal aspects
(2022)
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About The Author
Delphine Sirks successfully completed both her bachelor’s and master’s degree in Dutch Law at the Universiteit Leiden. Having spent semesters abroad at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, the Universität Wien and the Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, as well as a research period at the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome as a student, she took the opportunity to conduct her PhD research in legal history at the Universität Augsburg within the ›A Comparative History of Insurance Law in Europe‹-project, which she successfully defended in a joint doctorate at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She currently works at the latter university as an assistant professor in legal history.Abstract
The thesis researches the influence of marine insurance law on the development of fire and life insurance law in the Dutch Republic (1581-1795). Fire and life insurance are often seen as offspring of marine insurance, following the latter’s principles and rules ›mutatis mutandis‹. However, this theory of marine insurance as a single starting point for other types of insurance is rebutted by the various mutual fire insurance contracts found in the Zaanstreek and other parts of the Dutch Republic. This study reviews sources already known and hitherto unknown sources. As most of the sources consist of contracts, the research deals with insurance contract law. These contracts were concluded throughout the Dutch Republic at different times by varying parties. Therefore, instead of resorting to a uniform and doctrinal approach, the study takes on a casuistic approach. Instances of fire and life insurance are treated on a case-by-case basis within their own relevant circumstances.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preface | 5 | ||
| Table of Contents | 7 | ||
| Chapter 1: Introduction | 13 | ||
| Chapter 2: History of fire insurance law | 17 | ||
| A. Introduction | 17 | ||
| I. Emergence of fire insurance in the Dutch Republic | 17 | ||
| II. Spread of fire insurance in the Dutch Republic | 18 | ||
| III. Early traces of Dutch fire insurance initiatives elsewhere | 19 | ||
| IV. Dealing with fire and fire damage in Dutch daily life | 20 | ||
| 1. Local fire prevention measures | 20 | ||
| 2. Local firefighting measures | 21 | ||
| 3. Financial options in the event of fire | 22 | ||
| B. Premium fire insurance contracts | 23 | ||
| I. Inconclusive insurance contract in 1646 | 23 | ||
| II. Private partnership with insurance clauses in 1663 | 26 | ||
| III. Influence of marine insurance? | 29 | ||
| C. Mutual fire insurance contracts | 31 | ||
| I. Origin and development | 31 | ||
| 1. Hamburger Feuerkontrakte as an unlikely origin | 31 | ||
| 2. Guilds as an unlikely origin | 33 | ||
| 3. An independent development in various stages | 35 | ||
| 4. Further spread of mutual fire insurance contracts | 38 | ||
| a) Amsterdam millers’ contract of 1740 | 38 | ||
| b) Amsterdam sugar refiners’ contract of 1755 | 41 | ||
| c) Groningen hull millers’ contracts of 1743 and 1784 | 45 | ||
| 5. Legal analysis of the mutual fire insurance contracts | 52 | ||
| II. In detail: the Zaanstreek contracts between 1663 and 1783 | 55 | ||
| 1. Parties to the contract | 55 | ||
| a) Inclusion of new participants | 56 | ||
| b) Provisions regarding the position of heirs | 58 | ||
| c) Exclusion of current contracting parties | 59 | ||
| 2. Administration of an insurance scheme | 61 | ||
| a) Introduction of supervisors | 61 | ||
| b) Number of supervisors and circulation schemes | 63 | ||
| c) Annual meetings | 64 | ||
| 3. Termination of an insurance scheme | 65 | ||
| 4. Requirement of an insurable interest | 68 | ||
| 5. Objects of risk | 70 | ||
| a) Commodities, or movable property | 70 | ||
| b) Mills, or immovable property | 71 | ||
| c) Sale of an object of risk | 73 | ||
| d) Perished and partly damaged objects of risk | 74 | ||
| 6. Risk insured against | 76 | ||
| a) Description of the risk insured against | 76 | ||
| b) Exception in the case of war | 77 | ||
| c) Exception in the case of hazardous and flammable substances | 79 | ||
| d) Fire prevention measures to limit the risk | 79 | ||
| 7. The principle of indemnity and indemnification | 82 | ||
| a) Compulsory under-insurance and the principle of mutuality | 82 | ||
| b) Registration of sums insured | 84 | ||
| c) Prohibition of double insurance | 86 | ||
| d) Indemnification procedures for partial damage and total loss | 87 | ||
| 8. Conflict resolution | 90 | ||
| 9. Contract funds | 91 | ||
| a) A primitive contract fund of 1720 | 92 | ||
| b) A refined contract fund of 1739 | 93 | ||
| c) Legal analysis of contract funds and the investment in public bonds | 93 | ||
| III. Influence of marine insurance? | 95 | ||
| 1. An unlikely influence | 95 | ||
| 2. Excursus: mutual whaling insurance in the Zaanstreek | 96 | ||
| a) Conceptual influence during the seventeenth century | 96 | ||
| b) Developments of the eighteenth century | 97 | ||
| D. Rotterdam Insurance Company of 1720 | 100 | ||
| I. Introduction | 100 | ||
| 1. Emergence of insurance companies and premium fire insurance | 100 | ||
| 2. Introduction of fire insurance by the Rotterdam Insurance Company | 101 | ||
| 3. Reception of fire insurance by the public | 103 | ||
| II. The company’s fire insurance policy | 106 | ||
| 1. Drafting the policy | 106 | ||
| 2. Requirement of an insurable interest | 107 | ||
| 3. Parties to the contract and signing of the policy | 108 | ||
| 4. Duration and renewal of an insurance contract | 109 | ||
| 5. Objects of risk | 111 | ||
| a) Lists of insurable objects | 111 | ||
| b) Further provisions regarding objects of risk | 112 | ||
| 6. Risk insured against | 113 | ||
| 7. The principle of indemnity and indemnification | 114 | ||
| a) Valued policy | 115 | ||
| b) Under-insurance | 115 | ||
| c) A simple indemnification procedure | 116 | ||
| 8. Conflict resolution | 117 | ||
| III. Influence of marine insurance? | 118 | ||
| E. Amsterdam insurance legislation on fire insurance | 120 | ||
| I. Introduction | 120 | ||
| II. Amsterdam insurance keur of 1744 | 121 | ||
| 1. Insuring “to whom it may concern” and the insurable interest | 122 | ||
| 2. Duration of the insurance contract | 122 | ||
| 3. Objects of risk | 123 | ||
| 4. Risk insured against | 124 | ||
| 5. The principle of indemnity and indemnification | 125 | ||
| a) Valued policy | 125 | ||
| b) Indemnification procedure for total loss and partial damage | 127 | ||
| 6. Conflict resolution | 128 | ||
| III. The Amsterdam model fire insurance policy in practice | 129 | ||
| 1. Objects of risk | 130 | ||
| 2. Risks insured against | 130 | ||
| 3. Bearer policy and the indemnification procedure | 131 | ||
| 4. Conflict resolution | 133 | ||
| IV. Amsterdam insurance keur of 1775 | 134 | ||
| 1. Objects of risk | 135 | ||
| 2. Risk insured against | 136 | ||
| 3. Indemnification procedure | 136 | ||
| V. Influence of marine insurance? | 138 | ||
| F. Various developments from the 1770s onwards | 141 | ||
| I. Emergence of insurance companies | 141 | ||
| 1. A fifty-year gap | 141 | ||
| 2. Premium fire insurance companies | 143 | ||
| 3. Mutual fire insurance companies | 143 | ||
| a) Mutual fire insurance scheme in Schiedam | 144 | ||
| b) Mutual fire insurance scheme in Rotterdam | 146 | ||
| c) Mutual fire insurance scheme in Kampen | 148 | ||
| II. Emergence of a standard fire insurance policy in Rotterdam | 148 | ||
| III. Excursus: further development of the Rotterdam Insurance Company of 1720’s fire insurance policy | 150 | ||
| 1. The company’s fire insurance policy of 1795 | 151 | ||
| 2. The company’s fire insurance policy of 1813 | 152 | ||
| 3. The company’s fire insurance policies of 1814 and 1820 | 153 | ||
| IV. Influence of marine insurance? | 154 | ||
| Chapter 3: History of life insurance law | 156 | ||
| A. Introduction | 156 | ||
| I. Development of premium life insurance | 156 | ||
| II. Other forms of life insurance | 157 | ||
| 1. Life annuities and tontines | 157 | ||
| 2. Mutual aid schemes | 159 | ||
| 3. Widow funds, benefice societies and burial funds | 160 | ||
| B. On the prohibition of life insurance | 162 | ||
| I. Original prohibition of life insurance in 1571 | 162 | ||
| 1. Placcaat of 20 January 1571 | 162 | ||
| 2. Possible origin of the prohibition of life insurance | 163 | ||
| 3. Requirement of an insurable interest | 165 | ||
| 4. Excursus: legal characteristics of the life insurance practice in the 1560s in Antwerp | 167 | ||
| II. Prohibition of life insurance in 1598, 1600 and 1604 | 167 | ||
| 1. Amsterdam insurance keur of 1598 | 168 | ||
| 2. Middelburg insurance keur of 1600 | 168 | ||
| 3. Rotterdam insurance keur of 1604 | 169 | ||
| III. Prohibition of life insurance during the long eighteenth century | 169 | ||
| 1. Practice and regulation of ransom insurance | 170 | ||
| 2. Ransom insurance and the prohibition of life insurance | 171 | ||
| IV. Interpretation of the prohibition of life insurance in Roman-Dutch legal literature | 172 | ||
| 1. Legal scope of the placcaat of 1571 in the Dutch Republic | 173 | ||
| 2. Analogy with the … | 175 | ||
| a) … Antwerp Impressae of 1582 | 175 | ||
| b) … Frisian Landsordonnantie of 1723 | 176 | ||
| c) … Italian life insurance practice as portrayed by Roccus | 177 | ||
| d) … Hamburg insurance legislation of 1731 | 178 | ||
| 3. Requirement of statutory law | 178 | ||
| V. Influence of marine insurance? | 179 | ||
| C. Instances of short-term life insurance policies | 180 | ||
| I. Short-term life insurance policy of 1676 | 181 | ||
| 1. Parties to the contract | 181 | ||
| 2. Lives insured | 181 | ||
| 3. Risk insured against | 183 | ||
| 4. Indemnification procedure | 184 | ||
| 5. Renunciation of the prohibition of life insurance | 185 | ||
| 6. Recovery of the premium | 186 | ||
| 7. Proper life insurance? | 187 | ||
| II. Short-term life insurance policy of 1712 | 188 | ||
| 1. Parties to the contract | 189 | ||
| 2. Life insured | 189 | ||
| 3. Risk insured against | 190 | ||
| 4. Indemnification procedure | 190 | ||
| 5. Renunciation of the prohibition of life insurance | 191 | ||
| 6. Proper life insurance? | 192 | ||
| III. Influence of marine insurance? | 193 | ||
| D. The Dutch Life Insurance Company of 1807 | 194 | ||
| I. Introduction | 194 | ||
| 1. Establishment of the Dutch Life Insurance Company | 194 | ||
| 2. Foreign influences? | 195 | ||
| II. The company’s life insurance policy | 196 | ||
| 1. Parties to the contract | 196 | ||
| 2. Duration of the insurance contract and the premium | 197 | ||
| 3. Life insured | 198 | ||
| 4. Warranties | 199 | ||
| a) Requirement of warranties | 199 | ||
| b) Warranties of age and otherwise | 199 | ||
| c) Warranty of health | 200 | ||
| d) From 1822: joint warranty of age and health | 201 | ||
| e) Warranty of proof of interest | 203 | ||
| f) Rescission of insurance contract and forfeiture of premium | 205 | ||
| 5. Risk insured against | 206 | ||
| 6. Indemnification procedure | 207 | ||
| 7. Conflict resolution | 208 | ||
| III. Influence of marine insurance? | 208 | ||
| Chapter 4: Conclusion | 210 | ||
| Appendices | 214 | ||
| List of archival sources | 219 | ||
| Bibliography | 221 | ||
| Index | 231 |