Evening star., 1898-07-23
INSURANCE IN ICELAND
Interesting Development of the System at an
Early Period.
Compensation for Loss by Fire-Or
thu Cooperative Plan - How
Damages Were Assessed.
From Chambers Journal.

1
| Centuries before the wise citizens Of Lon
| don recognized the value of fire insurance
| there existed q most interesting form of 1t,
| and that not in any of the great CONNER
cial nations of the middle ages, but in a
remote island of the Atlantic-in Iceland.
| This fact, remarkable as it is in itself will
| not seem SO surprising to those who are
acquainted with the ancient condition of
| that country, which has for several hun
dred years played but small part in Euro
pean history. Its first colonsts, in the end
Of the ninth and beginning of the tenth
centuries, were among the most enterpris-
| ing of Norway's sens, and for the next
three centuries their new home rivaled the
mother country in most respects, and far
excelled it in mental activity The old
poetry OF Norway died out about the year
1OOO A. D., and from that date, so long as
there were skalds at the court of the Nor
Wegian kings, they were Icelanders. At the
same time they were careful farmers, dar-
ing seamen and enterprising traders They
traded regularly with all the ne;ghboriag
countries, and thought little of an over
land Journey to Constantinople, where
many OF them served in the bodyguard of
the Byzantine emperor. At home, next TO
the necessary care of their herds and flocks,
they We're above all devoted to poetry. his
tory and law. To be skilled in the latter
was sure title 10 respect at time when
law books were still unknown, and codes
were carried in the head of the .1awman"
or declared by the "lawspeaker," at the
meetings of the althing, or yearly assem-
bly, In the thirteenth century these laws
of use and wont came to be written down,
not officially, 1t would SEEM as happened
in other countries, but by persons interest
ed in legal studies, and they are now pre-
served in a collection commonly known
Gra-gas, or gray goose Ia name of doubtful
origin), which is used as a general name
for the laws of Iceland prior to it's union
with Norway in 1862.
1t is in this collection of laws that the
interesting item of compensation for loss
by fire occurs, a section which is quoted by
the editor of Iceandic journal of last
year, in the first of series of articles on
the ancient civilization of Iceland. The
editor, DR.. Valtyr Gudmundsson, is one of
the best authorities on this subject, and
uses the quotation as 3 text to point out to
his countrymen the superior foresight of
their ancestors in this respect.
The modern 1celander has not yet realiZ-
ed the value of insurance, shown by
the fact that one Of the foremost yeomen
in the country had his farm burned down
three times in succession without Its being
insured. 1t was otherwise in the old days,
as DR.. Valtyr points out. In the time of
the old republic, the golden age of Iceland,
every yeoman-farmer was by law COM
PEELED to be a member of a mutual insur-
ance society. The method by which COM
pensation for loss by fire was made is thus
explained in Gra-gas. and is a striking
proof of the thoroughly practical views of
the old Icelanders:
There are three houses in every mans
dwelling for which compensation may be
obtained in event Of their being burned
down" On Icelandic dwellings each room
was separate building, and is called a
'house). "One is the women's sitting
room, another the common sitting room and
the third pantry where the women pre-
pare the food. II a man has both a sitting
room and hall, then at the spring as
sembly he shall choose whether he will
rather have the sitting room or the hall
insured. If there is a church or chapel
on any mans farm. then that is the fourth
house liable for compensation, where it
exists. If any of these houses aforemen-
toned Is burned down. the owner shall
summon five of his neighbors, and get
them to estimate the damage that has been
done. They shall estimate the damage
done to the house itself, and also that done
to clothes and other vaIuables burned along
with it, but only such clothes and valua-
bles as the owner requires for daily use
shall be reckoned for compensation. If a
church is burned there shall be reckoned
along with It for compensation all the
hAnSingS, the choir and the best bell that
has been destroyed If there Were more than
one, and all the furniture required for
daily use; the same thing shall be done In
the case Of chapels."
When the damage had been valued by the
heignbors, as above provided, one-half of
the loss had to be borne by the yeoman
himself and the other half was made good
by all the other yeomen in the district
From each Of these a certain amount was
levied in proportion to the value of his
property, and if this were not paid within
a specified time it could be seized by law
At the same time it was provided that no
cne could be called upon to pay as his
snare more than 1 per cent of his whole
property, and 1t was not compulsory to
compensate the same person for loss by
fire more than three times