First, Insurance is a Chinese word, pinyin is b?oxi?n, and English is insurance or insurance, which means safe and reliable guarantee; Later, it was extended to a guarantee mechanism, a tool for planning life finance, a basic means of risk management under the condition of market economy, and an important pillar of financial system and social security system.
2. Insurance refers to the commercial insurance behavior in which the applicant pays the insurance premium to the insurer according to the contract, and the insurer assumes the responsibility of paying the insurance premium for the property losses caused by the possible accidents agreed in the contract, or when the insured dies, suffers from disability, illness or reaches the age and time limit agreed in the contract.
Third, from an economic point of view, insurance is a financial arrangement to share the loss of accidents; From the legal point of view, insurance is a contractual act, a contractual arrangement in which one party agrees to compensate the other party for losses; From a social point of view, insurance is an important part of the social and economic security system and a "subtle stabilizer" for social production and social life; From the perspective of risk management, insurance is a method of risk management.
Fourthly, human society has been confronted with natural disasters and accidents from the very beginning. In the process of struggling with nature, ancient people came up with insurance ideas and original insurance methods to deal with disasters and accidents. Around 2500 BC, the king of Babylon ordered monks, judges and village heads to collect taxes as fire fighting funds.
5. Masons in ancient Egypt set up funeral mutual aid organizations to solve the problem of raising funeral funds by paying membership fees. Soldiers' organizations in the Roman Empire provided living expenses for the survivors of fallen soldiers in the form of fund-raising and gradually formed an insurance system.
6. With the development of trade, about 1792 BC, it was the era of Hammurabi, the sixth king of Babylon, and the business was prosperous. In order to help business and protect the goods of mules, horses and caravans that compensate for losses, in code of hammurabi, it is stipulated that * * * should share the compensation for losses.
7. In 9 16 BC, in Rhode Island in the Mediterranean Sea, the king formulated the Rhodesian Maritime Code to ensure the normal conduct of maritime trade, stipulating that the losses suffered by a certain shipowner should be shared by the beneficiaries, including the shipowner and all shippers of the ship. This is the origin of marine insurance.
8. During the Punic War from 260 BC to 146 BC, in order to solve the problem of military transportation, the ancient Romans charged 24-36% of the merchant's expenses as a reserve fund to compensate for the loss of goods. This is the origin of marine insurance.