I hope you've all finished reading theassigned chapter on insurance-so that you'reprepared for our discussion today. But, before we start, I'd like to mention afew things your text doesn't go into.7 W/ ?3 O8 R# M
It's interesting to note that insurance hasexisted in some form for a very long time. The earliest insurance policies werecalled bottomry contracts. They providedshipping protection for merchants as far back as3000 B.C. In general, the contracts were often nomore than verbal agreements. They granted loans to merchants with theunderstanding that if a particular shipment of goods was lost atsea, the loan didn't have to be repaid. Interest on the loans varied accordingto how risky it was to transport the goods.During periods of heavy piracy at sea, forexample, the amount of interest and the cost of the policywent up considerably. So, you can see how insurance helpedencourage international trade. Even the most cautious merchants became willingto risk shipping their goods over long distances-not to mention in hazardousweather conditions-when they had this kind of protection available. Generally speaking, the basic form of aninsurance policy has been pretty much the same since the Middle Ages. These are four points that were salient then and remain paramount in all policiestoday. There were outlined in chapter six and willserve as the basis for the rest of today's discussion. Can anyone tellme what one of those points might be? Bottomry 以船做抵押的贷款 Piracy 海上掠夺 Salient 显著的 |