Tontines and the History of Insurance Law

Jour Fixe

  • Date: Apr 23, 2018
  • Time: 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Phillip Hellwege
  • Universität Augsburg
  • Location: MPIeR
  • Room: Vortragssaal des MPI
Jour Fixe: Tontines and the History of Insurance Law

Tontines are a financial product. They were proposed by the Italian Lorenzo Tonti (1602-1684) to Cardinal Mazarin in 1653. In essence tontines were a pooled life annuity scheme. In the 17th and 18th century they were used by the public hand to raise capital. In Germany, they were offered throughout the 19th century as a pension product. In the end of the 19th century US-American life insurance companies flooded the European market with tontine life insurance products, and as a consequence they were banned in many European states in the late 19th century. It was claimed that they are a form of gambling. In his presentation, Phillip Hellwege explores the history of tontines and the question of whether or not tontines had a lasting impact on the history of insurance and insurance law.


Image: gallica.nbf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de Fance

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