The back-to-back presumption in reinsurance (that reinsurance is co-extensive with the underlying insurance) does not apply where the reinsurance documentation is a detailed, largely self-contained document that replicates the salient aspects of the underlying policy, rather than a short-form slip. The presumption is especially called for when reinsurance is effected in short-form documents, but is displaced where the parties have sought to create a free-standing document. Post-contractual events such as the magnitude of subsequent claims are inadmissible as aids to construction unless they constitute retrospectant evidence casting light on circumstances known to the parties at the time of contracting.
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