Numerous works have been written about the history of marine, fire, and life insurance. However, the development of reinsurance has been somewhat neglected in the literature. The few authors who have dealt with the history of reinsurance either focus solely on the 19th century or approach it somewhat unilaterally from an economic perspective. The aim of this primarily legal-historical work is to investigate the oldest maritime law codifications and insurance regulations, as well as the jurisprudence of the 17th and 18th centuries, for indications of reinsurance. This will be done by utilizing the records of insurance professionals from past centuries, the material collected by legal and economic historians, and the remaining contracts to trace the development of reinsurance.