Managing Maritime Risk in Early Modern Europe

<b>Draws on the rich surviving archives of the Tuscan port of Livorno to explore how General Average worked.</b><br><br><br>Commercial seafaring both dangerous and with large amounts of capital at stake was the source of the risk-management institutions that still undergird the global economy today. A key institution of early modern risk management was General Average a procedure used to redistribute extraordinary costs arising from a maritime venture between all financially interested parties. For example should one merchant's cargo be jettisoned to lighten a ship in a storm the loss would be shared pro rata by the shipper and all the cargo-owners. A risk-sharing practice different from the risk-shifting of marine insurance which became established relatively late General Average is still in widespread use. <br><br>This book explores how General Average worked. It reveals the gap between General Average in law and how it worked on the ground. It shows how General Average partitioned a wide array of business costs thereby performing a significant role in structuring maritime commerce managing risk and promoting shipping and trade. In addition the book discusses how far General Average was a feature of a supposedly ancient universal customary maritime law and contributes to debates about the evolution of institutions in economic development.