The author examines the impact of blockchain and smart contracts on the legal profession. After all, the lawyer is entitled to draft smart contracts. For a few years now, in information technology, the lawyer has promoted the writing of so-called agile contracts in connection with projects run by “agileȁ methods. However, the smart contract, whether described as a contract or simple algorithm, challenges the lawyer by its philosophy (“code is law”) and by its writers who are no longer jurists but developers. He discusses whether this technology will be “killing off” the legal profession. Before over-hastily assuming this apocalyptic demise of the lawyer, the author suggests to think about the role and the status of the lawyer in his general mission of advice and defense, and considers whether information technology can be a substitute for the lawyer or simply a new tool that could be used.
China’s contract law is examined to determine if there are legal ambiguities with regard to formation, performance, and modification of smart contracts and the problems relating to the enforcement, remedies, and dispute resolution. It is important to Chinese law not to act prematurely to change existing legal frameworks in response to a still evolving technology (blockchain-based smart contracts). On the other hand, the regulatory framework for platform operators needs be adjusted carefully to incentivize them to diligently check and verify the information of vendors who conduct business on the platform.
It provides an early overview of the cases where the use of smart contracts may prove significantly beneficial in B2C transactions. It focuses on the capacity of smart contracts to mitigate some of the well-known problems affecting B2C and B2B relationships. The adoption of regulatory sandboxes in the rail and air sectors will be described as a first testing ground to assess the potential of smart contracts.
Chapter 15 derives some general features of smart contracts by examining the technological approach for these contracts proposed by Ethereum and Solidity language. It relies on the concept of ‘interfaces’ to designate the relationships between the computer code of a smart contract and other external elements. According to this chapter, these interfaces are the exact locations of the legal connections between a specific piece of software and the real world. In particular, it argues that the smart contract environment is not a ‘lawyer-free environment’ due to the fact that smart contracts would necessarily interfere with real world persons or institutions that would by the nature of our societies lead to legal issues.
Larry A. DiMatteo, Michel Cannarsa, Cristina Poncibò
Smart contracts have been a topic of interest to lawyers for some time now. The question regularly arises as to whether a smart contract can also constitute a valid contract on its own. This article examines this question, focusing on the basic principles of Swiss contract law.
It is unclear how bitcoins should be qualified from a legal perspective. This qualification is, among other things, relevant to determine how bitcoins should be transferred, pledged, attached and executed. In this article, bitcoins and bitcoin transfers are explained from a technical perspective and subsequently qualified from a contract and property law perspective. Given the borderless nature of bitcoins and its underlying bitcoin technology, these subjects are dealt with in an international manner, often drawing upon legal concepts which form the backbone of most if not all legal systems, especially those in the EU. In this article, the following conclusions are reached. First of all, from a contract law perspective, the bitcoin network qualifies as a multi-party contract to which the various participants (users, miners and nodes) accede by participating in the network for the first time and, in doing so, accept the third-party rights clause stipulated in that agreement in their favour. Secondly, from a property law perspective, the rights with respect to the bitcoins credited to a bitcoin address are put to bearer at the same moment these bitcoins are so credited. They are put to the bearer of the value bearer on which the private key associated with that bitcoin address is stored. That value bearer embodies the right of that bearer to perform the work necessary to transfer the bitcoins on that bitcoin address, more specifically vis-à-vis the miners to validate that transaction and vis-à-vis the nodes to verify the work of the winning miner. Those bitcoin rights can be transferred, pledged, attached and executed by possession of the value bearer.
Os smarts contracts são, em termos bastante gerais, protocolos informáticos que permitem que um dispositivo execute as prestações de um contrato de forma autônoma, logo, sem a necessidade de intervenção humana. A substituição da ação humana por um processo – conjunto de protocolos – que viabiliza (a) a automação de operações, (b) a materialização automática das prestações nas transações e (c) a utilização de outras tecnologias, as quais permitem a verificação do clausulado e da identidade dos sujeitos vinculados à transação resulta em elevada economia de custos. Ademais, as expectativas das partes para a satisfação de seus interesses negociais, tal como estabelecido no contrato, acabam sendo amplamente protegidas. Rapidez, previsibilidade e automação permeiam o exercício da autonomia privada, facilitando a efetiva autotutela. Não obstante os evidentes benefícios, tal figura apresenta limitações e desvantagens, trazendo consigo possíveis problemas. Este trabalho explora brevemente o fenômeno dos smart contracts, reflete sobre seu ecossistema particular e, a seguir, aborda importantes questões jurídicas que acompanham os smart contracts.
Technology development is one of the tools for developing e-commerce. In recent years, the emergence of public Ledgers such as the Blockchain and the invention of digital cryptocurrencies have created a new type of electronic contract called smart contracts. Smart contracts are contracts under the supervision of artificial intelligence in the context of the Blockchain, and the contractor replaces them with smart properties or digital cryptocurrencies. Intention is one of the pillars of the formation of any contract in legal systems. These contracts must be able to identify the element of intent in order to be considered valid in any legal system. Acquiring the intent of the parties in smart contracts through the licensing mechanisms for the use of digital signatures, the mechanisms for assigning permissions to use virtual currencies, the mechanisms for accessing information systems, and in contracts that are represented by artificial intelligence, the conclusion of a transaction by The representative represents the intention of the attorney to grant the lawyer to the client.
Todo instituto juridico e influenciado pelo contexto socioeconomico no qual se insere ao longo da Historia, e o contrato nao e excecao. Ele sofre as adaptacoes necessarias para melhor corresponder as demandas dessa atividade humana. Assim e que a forma, as regras e o conteudo dos contratos variam de acordo com a epoca e o meio social nos quais sao produzidos. Portanto, e tarefa do Direito dos Contratos se adaptar e reformular consoante as necessidades e expectativas da sociedade em cada epoca, em especial no tocante ao comercio, que hoje experimenta os impactos das grandes transformacoes causadas contribuicao da tecnologia ao comercio internacional. Nesse contexto, surgem os smart contracts internacionais, contratos internacionais autoexecutaveis baseados em tecnologia nao-criptografavel, que permite o gerenciamento da performance contratual das partes e a execucao automatica do contrato. O presente trabalho visa a analisar tal instrumento enquanto alternativa tecnologica viavel a fornecer maior eficacia, rapidez e seguranca ao comercio internacional.
JIPITEC 10 (2019) 1 - The concept of smart contracts entered the legal discourse only a few years ago, yet the subject has already given rise to remarkably different approaches. While some assume that smart contracts can be fully integrated into existing contract law, others predict that they will mark the beginning of the end of contract law. The aim of this article is to contribute to the assessment of smart contracts by examining how they can be situated within the traditional Western concept of contract law and how they differ from traditional contracts in the individual phases of a contract’s life cycle. In particular, these findings show that the automated execution of the promises contained in a smart contract, specifically their technical characteristics, lead to an increased significance of the contract drafting phase compared to the execution phase. Among other aspects, smart contracts are considerably more difficult to modify than traditional contracts and they are limited by the fact that the encoding of contracts requires an increased formalization of the contractual terms. On the other hand, the technical architecture of smart contracts offers possibilities ranging from automatic self-help to the enforcement of legally unenforceable agreements. It is precisely this autonomy of smart contracts from existing contract law that finally raises the question of whether an adaptation of contract law will become necessary and what difficulties such an adaptation would face.
El blockchain i el smart contract són dos tecnologies emergents, independents entre elles, que estan adoptant cada volta més protagonisme i rellevància social. Aquest article fa una aproximació a ambdues tecnologies des d’una òptica fiscal i tributària. En particular, s’explora la relació de les dos tecnologies amb l’Impost sobre les Transmissions Patrimonials i els Actes Jurídics Documentats, regulat al Text Refós de la Llei de l’Impost sobre Transmissions Patrimonials i Actes Jurídics Documentats i el seu corresponent reglament.
Abstract This article investigates the twofold impact that blockchain technologies and smart contracts have on dispute resolution. On the one hand, these technologies enable private parties to devise arbitral systems that are self-enforcing and, therefore, largely bypass the recognition and enforcement procedures through which State courts traditionally exert a certain control over arbitration. This phenomenon may in the future allow arbitration to become entirely self-sufficient, thus leading to the marginalization of State courts. On the other hand, however, such a marginalization has not taken place yet; to the contrary, the recent blockchain-related phenomenon of initial coin offerings has given rise to some prominent court cases. These cases raise particularly interesting jurisdictional questions, especially in light of the difficulty of reconciling the decentralized nature of the blockchain with the territorial approach whereby jurisdiction is typically allocated among national courts.
The most disruptive technology to emerge in the past decade, blockchain technology has had an immediate impact on the legal industry to address the new issues that blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and distributed ledger technologies present. This panel discusses current and potential regulatory issues facing blockchain technology, including ICOs and securities regulation, prevention of blockchain use in criminal activities, the uncertain tax landscape, and the unique challenges of regulating a global borderless technology.
Isadora de Brida Santi, Lara Bonemer Rocha Floriani
A presente pesquisa, que se encontra em fase de desenvolvimento, tem como escopo analisar as caracteristicas dos smart contracts, advindos da tecnologia blockchain, a fim de concluir se estes podem ser considerados contratos de acordo com as disposicoes do Codigo Civil de 2002, ou se sao apenas clausula de execucao automatica. Para a realizacao do estudo sera considerada a liberdade contratual trazida pela Constituicao Federal, e confirmada pelo Codigo Civil no artigo 425, que autoriza as partes estipularem contratos atipicos, ou seja, contratos nao previstos na norma civil. O estudo se justifica na duvida acerca da legalidade dos referidos ‘contratos’, sendo necessaria a conclusao a fim de trazer seguranca juridica as partes contratantes. Para tanto, a fim de focalizar o estudo, tendo em vista que existem mais de 20 tipos de contratos no Codigo Civil e inumeros contratos atipicos, sera analisado as disposicoes da norma que tratam de contrato de seguro, previsto no Capitulo I e XV do Titulo V, em especial os elementos essenciais, regras de interpretacao e formacao do contrato de seguro, alem das disposicoes gerais de validade dos negocios juridicos, conforme o disposto no artigo 104 da referida norma. A fim de embasar o estudo, sera utilizado como fonte de informacao as doutrinas brasileiras e portuguesas que abordam os contratos civis, alem de doutrina internacional sobre smart contracts e blockchain. Para a realizacao do presente estudo, sera empregado o metodo de abordagem dedutivo, eis que se origina em uma generalizacao para uma particularizacao.
EnglishSmart contracts have generated interest around the world and in various sectors of the economy. The vast majority of the legal articles we know about smart contracts are devoted to fundamental aspects of this figure, but above all from a theoretical point of view. The number of articles on the subject from a more practical perspective is still small. What we propose in this article is to point out and problematize some more immediate practical aspects related to the use of smart contracts. portuguesOs smart contracts tem gerado interesse um pouco por todo o mundo e em diversos setores da economia. A grande maioria dos artigos juridicos que conhecemos sobre smart contracts dedica-se a aspetos fundamentais desta figura, mas sobretudo de um ponto de vista teorico. O numero de artigos que se debruca sobre o tema de uma perspetiva mais pratica e ainda reduzido. Aquilo que nos propomos neste artigo e assinalar e problematizar alguns aspetos praticos mais imediatos relacionados com a utilizacao de smart contracts.