The reassurance of life assurance policies is readily accepted by us all as an essential, though a minor, part of Life Assurance. Each office tends to have its own traditional approach to this problem, coloured very often by its attitude to the general problem of underwriting. I think that a discussion on reassurance falls naturally into two parts. First, what amount should be retained for an office's own account? Secondly, having determined the retention, how should the reassurance be effected?

The scientific transaction of Life Assurance began in 1762 with the ‘Equitable’, but, until other Life Offices began to issue permanent policies, there was no scope for reassurance; nor, probably, was there much demand for very large policies. It must be remembered, of course, that in those days £100 was a considerable sum of money. As Life Offices grew and multiplied, reassurance became more common as will be learned by the references to it in the early numbers of J.I.A. Reference should be made to G. T. Foster's paper in J.I.A. 72, 337, where it is pointed out that, one hundred years ago, reassurances were looked at with considerable suspicion; this attitude still exists to some extent.