Code is Law: A Legal Justification of Irreversible Execution of Smart Contracts through Consideration

Ville Sundell

No z9gma, LawArchive from Center for Open Science

Abstract: The legal standing of smart contracts, specifically with regard to their irreversible execution on distributed ledgers, remains a subject of ongoing debate in the realm of jurisprudence. The 'code is law' principle introduces significant questions about legal validity. This paper ventures to provide a novel perspective by situating 'code is law' within the framework of contract law, specifically through the lens of contractual consideration. I propose that the irreversible execution of smart contracts furnishes symmetrical added value for the parties involved by potentially minimizing transaction costs. I argue that this could serve as a valid form of consideration, thereby providing a possible legal grounding for the 'code is law' principle.

Date: 2023-10-12
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://osf.io/download/6523a9fd0ee232033d41a476/

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:lawarc:z9gma

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/z9gma

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in LawArchive from Center for Open Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by OSF ().