Tontines and the History of Insurance Law
Speaker(s):
Professor Phillip Hellwege, University of Augsburg
Series:
Comparative Law Discussion Group
Tontines are a financial product. They were proposed by the Italian Lorenzo Tonti (1602-1684) to Cardinal Mazarin in 1653 as a means for the French Crown to raise capital. In essence tontines were a pooled life annuity scheme. In many European states they were banned in the late 19th century as it was thought that they were 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.
A sandwich lunch will be available from 12.30 and the meeting will begin at 1pm.