Der Versicherungsgedanke und seine historischen Grundlagen (Beitrage zu Grundfragen des Rechts)

the long version

English summary: Albert Schug reveals the development of the insurance principle since antiquity. The volume is based on the description of insurance in sociological, economic and legal terms. The sociological perspective serves to establish whether institutes have evolved through natural forms of mutual support in the face of hazards through communities such as families, clans and tribes to a purely individual form of support for the maintenance or creation of assets. Institutions that fulfil these criteria can be defined as insurances if they comprise the four features risk, independence, remuneration and a legal claim to benefits, or if they serve to fulfil the objectives of asset structuring. The existence of assets and their protection in different epochs is derived by examining the societal structures and economic priorities laid down by the respective institutions. Furthermore, the codifications established through history are compared with the European standards and the significance of insurance described for the respective national economies. The study shows that the insurance principle has existed since antiquity.