[Footnote 237-1: The Icelandic _repps_ consisting as a rule of 20 citizens subject to taxation, who mutually insured one another against the death of cattle (to the extent of at least one-fourth the value), and against damage from fire. After every fire three chambers of each house were replaced; so also the loss of clothing and of the means of subsistence, but not other goods or articles of display. (_Dahlmann_, Danisch Gesch., II, 281 ff.) Scandinavian parish-duty, (_Gemeindepflicht),_ of assistance in case of damage by fire: _Wilda_, Gesch. des deutschen Strafrechts, I, 142. Similarly Capitul. a. 779 in _Pertz_, Leges, I, 37. This matter plays an important part in the guilds out of which a large portion of the ancient cities were evolved: compare _Wilda_, Gildenwesen in M. Alter. 123.] [Footnote 237-2: Proposed national fire insurance (_Landesbrandversicherung_) in which for the time being several villages should form a company, the surplus of which was to go to the ærarian, and the deficit to be made up by the same: _Georg Obrecht_, Fünf unterschiedliche Secreta, Strasburg, 1617, No. 3. A similar proposition made on financial grounds in 1609, and rejected in Oldenburg. (_Beckmann_, Beitr. zur Gesch. der Erfind, I, 219 ff.) The idea sometimes suggested in our day, of making the system of insurance a government prerogative, arises as much from the passion for centralization as from socialistic tendencies. Compare the Belgian Bulletin de la Commission de Statist. IV, 210, and _Oberländer_, Die Feuerversicherungsanstalten vor der Ständeversammlung des k. Sachsen, 1857.] [Footnote 237-3: Maritime insurance is much older than insurance against risks on land; the Dutch institutions of Charles V.'s time seem to have existed long before. (Richesse de Hollande, I, 81 ff.) On Flemish, Portuguese and Italian maritime insurance in the 14th century, see _Sartorius_, Gesch. der Hanse, I, 215; _Schäfer_, Portug. Gesch. II, 103 ff., and _F. Bald. Pegolotti_, Tratato della Mercatura in Della decima, etc., della Moneta e della Mercatura dei Fiorentini, 1765. The class engaged in maritime commerce are indeed especially and early rich in capital, speculative and calculating.]