Time Construction in Insurance Society

The article deals with the social and economic meaning of insurance contracts between the late medieval and the modern society. Starting from the empirical analysis of one of the early marine insurance contracts which were stipulated in the second half of the 14th century, the hypothesis is suggested that the premium rate does coincide with the estimated average frequency of sea accidents. This rate is used to observe the future in the medium of probability for managing risk business. The main thesis then arises that insurance premium is a way of giving a certain price to the uncertainty of the future, and that it finally represents the costs of its observation. A comparison with the original function of money in primitive societies based on reciprocity is finally developed in order to clarify how time construction depends on social structures.