A Marine Insurance Fraud in the Star Chamber
in STAR CHAMBER MATTERS: THE COURT AND ITS RECORDS 155–174 (K.J. Kesselring & Natalie Mears, eds., 2021).
20 Pages Posted: 14 Nov 2021
Date Written: September 30, 2021
Abstract
The Star Chamber was an active forum for litigating cases of fraud in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. But some complaints alleging fraud were themselves fraudulent. This book chapter provides a detailed study of a 1613 Star Chamber suit claiming marine insurance fraud against London- and Amsterdam-based merchant insurers, which was allegedly committed in Livorno, Italy by two Portuguese crypto-Jews and a young English merchant. But did the fraud actually occur, or did the accuser invent the whole story?
Keywords: fraud; insurance; anti-semitism; England; Star Chamber
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation