To browse Academia. Part of those papers were presented at the two panels organized by the editors of this volume. We would like to thank all peer reviewers for the time that they have invested and for their valuable reports, which have greatly improved this volume. Finally, we would like to thank Sarah Meaney for correcting the English. Session of the Aispe-Sise Conference on Institutions and socio-economic changes Italy and Europe in the international context in a historical perspective.
Maritime risk management. Essays on the history of marine insurance, General Average and sea loan, The concept of risk acquires different meanings depending on the context and it tends to change over time.
Only in the late medieval age, with the growth of trade, did risicum β intended as a fortuitous event β become an element that businessmen would take into account and protect themselves against, in order to preserve the profitability of their investments.
It is in this framework, and more specifically in maritime transport, that insurance was first developed, as a tool transferring voyage risk, in part or in full, to third parties against payment of a premium. However, within maritime commerce, there is another institution, general average, with much older origins, and designed to better cope with the perils involved with maritime adventure.
Its function could be defined as complementary to insurance. This work aims to investigate the evolution of general average and insurance regulations and procedures in Genoa, as well as the ways in which they intersected, with a view to fully understanding the mechanisms for managing maritime trade risks from the late Middle Ages to the early modern age.
