From Immutable Code to Adaptive Contracting: The Modular Smart Contract Model and the Future of Programmable Contract Law

Céline Gauthier-Maxence ()
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Céline Gauthier-Maxence: PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris

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Abstract: Contract Model and the Future of Programmable Contract LawSmart contracts promise certainty through automated execution, yet contract law is fundamentally organised around adaptation. Contracts are routinely amended, suspended, interpreted, terminated and subject to judicial or arbitral intervention. This article argues that the principal limitation of contemporary smart contracts does not lie in their legal validity but in their inability to accommodate the legal life-cycle of contractual relationships. It identifies a conceptual confusion between ledger permanence and contractual permanence and argues that immutability should be understood as an infrastructural property rather than a contractual ideal. In response, the article develops the Principle of Programmable Contractual Continuity, proposes a Modular Smart Contract Model (MSCM) based on successive legally coordinated contractual modules, and introduces the Smart Contract Legal Adaptability Test (SCLAT). Through a commercial case study, it demonstrates how programmable contracting can integrate amendment, suspension, adjudication and restitution while preserving traceability, accountability and legal certainty.

Keywords: Smart Contracts; Contract Law; Blockchain Governance; Contractual Adaptability; Digital Governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-07-10
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