Marine Insurance and Risk Distribution in Scotland Before 1800

This paper is an account of the development of marine insurance in Scotland. The topic has not been previously investigated by either legal or economic historians. While providing a general history of the development of insurance, this paper will also undertake three more specific tasks, (1) to increase knowledge about the use of marine insurance during this time, particularly during the period 1700–1750; (2) to explain why insurance was not commonly used by merchants during the seventeenth century; and (3) to correct one very serious and misleading error relating to the chronology of development.