Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
submittedVersion
Publication Date
9-2023
Abstract
This article adds to the debate on what, legally speaking, smart contracts are and what they should be. Currently, much of this debate focuses on the relationship between smart contracts and legal contracts, overlooking that other legal categories may also be appropriate. This article suggests that the concept of abandonment can be fruitfully applied to smart contracts. Using the concept of abandonment has the advantage of allowing smart contracts, as close as legally possible, to be utilized as machines (or using the terminology suggested by Vitalik Buterin, founder of Etherium, as a ‘persistent script’). It would also make other issues, like the interpretation of smart contracts, easier to deal with. The argument is not that smart contracts can never be legal contracts; rather, it is suggested that, prima facie, users should have the choice of utilizing smart contracts as legal contracts or as machines.
Keywords
abandonment, blockchain, contract formation, distributed ledger technology, DLT, smart contracts
Discipline
Contracts | Public Law and Legal Theory | Technology and Innovation
Publication
International Journal of Law and Information Technology
Volume
31
Issue
3
First Page
231
Last Page
252
ISSN
0967-0769
Identifier
10.1093/ijlit/eaad021
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP): Policy E - Oxford Open Option D
Citation
GAMPER, Florian.
A non-contractual approach to smart contracts. (2023). International Journal of Law and Information Technology. 31, (3), 231-252.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/4329
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/ijlit/eaad021
Included in
Contracts Commons, Public Law and Legal Theory Commons, Technology and Innovation Commons
