{"title":"From smart legal contracts to contracts on blockchain: An empirical investigation","authors":"Fabio Bassan , Maddalena Rabitti","doi":"10.1016/j.clsr.2024.106035","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The issue surrounding the nature and function of smart contracts in the context of legal relationships has garnered significant attention from the European and national legislators, regulatory bodies and legal scholarship. Sections I and II of this essay give an account of the results of the ongoing doctrinal debate, which is not univocal. The objective is to provide an assessment of both the advantages and limitations associated with smart legal contracts. In Section III, the authors introduce a novel negotiation process termed \"contracts on chain\". This process enables parties to engage in negotiations, formalize agreements and execute contracts directly on the blockchain. Consequently, this negotiation approach serves as a potential bridge between the realms of Web 2 and Web 3. Further, it offers a user experience akin to online contracts but benefits from the inherent capabilities of third-generation blockchains. Albeit on-chain contracts can be deployed on both private and public blockchains, the authors express a preference for their use on the public blockchain within a \"logical platform\". This choice allows to enhance regulatory compliance and mitigate the effects of decentralization on liability regimes, while simultaneously optimizing the efficiency gains of public blockchains. Notably, this approach ensures a level of protection commensurate with that offered by private blockchains. The ultimate goal of this innovative process is to streamline the ongoing technological transition and cultivate greater trust within the market for emerging technologies.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51516,"journal":{"name":"Computer Law & Security Review","volume":"55 ","pages":"Article 106035"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0267364924001018/pdfft?md5=109b069f1d7ba1afbdf37b76ae1ea0fe&pid=1-s2.0-S0267364924001018-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Computer Law & Security Review","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0267364924001018","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"LAW","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The issue surrounding the nature and function of smart contracts in the context of legal relationships has garnered significant attention from the European and national legislators, regulatory bodies and legal scholarship. Sections I and II of this essay give an account of the results of the ongoing doctrinal debate, which is not univocal. The objective is to provide an assessment of both the advantages and limitations associated with smart legal contracts. In Section III, the authors introduce a novel negotiation process termed "contracts on chain". This process enables parties to engage in negotiations, formalize agreements and execute contracts directly on the blockchain. Consequently, this negotiation approach serves as a potential bridge between the realms of Web 2 and Web 3. Further, it offers a user experience akin to online contracts but benefits from the inherent capabilities of third-generation blockchains. Albeit on-chain contracts can be deployed on both private and public blockchains, the authors express a preference for their use on the public blockchain within a "logical platform". This choice allows to enhance regulatory compliance and mitigate the effects of decentralization on liability regimes, while simultaneously optimizing the efficiency gains of public blockchains. Notably, this approach ensures a level of protection commensurate with that offered by private blockchains. The ultimate goal of this innovative process is to streamline the ongoing technological transition and cultivate greater trust within the market for emerging technologies.
期刊介绍:
CLSR publishes refereed academic and practitioner papers on topics such as Web 2.0, IT security, Identity management, ID cards, RFID, interference with privacy, Internet law, telecoms regulation, online broadcasting, intellectual property, software law, e-commerce, outsourcing, data protection, EU policy, freedom of information, computer security and many other topics. In addition it provides a regular update on European Union developments, national news from more than 20 jurisdictions in both Europe and the Pacific Rim. It is looking for papers within the subject area that display good quality legal analysis and new lines of legal thought or policy development that go beyond mere description of the subject area, however accurate that may be.