Method of risk management by which the owner or custodian of an object (the insured) transfers the risk of potential financial loss to an insurance company (the insurer) in return for the payment of a premium. By forming a contract of insurance, the insurer promises to indemnify the insured up to a specified amount of loss or damage occurring during a fixed period of insurance and caused by or resulting from events beyond the control of the insured. The principle of insurance is that uncertainty of risk can be shared, and the basic economic theory is that the premiums paid by multiple insureds will cover the losses suffered by the few (i.e. when pooled, total premiums will be greater than total claims paid). There are examples of comparable arrangements from ancient Babylonian culture and amongst Chinese merchants in the 2nd century BCE, as well as in the early Greco-Roman economies. Today’s international insurance industry may be traced directly back to the early modern period in Europe and the evolution of the theory of probability. The world’s most renowned and enduring insurance entity is Lloyd’s of London, which originated out of Edward Lloyd’s Coffee House (established in the 1680s). To the present day, Lloyd’s continues to be a specialist insurance marketplace for many classes of business and a forum for innovation in art insurance....