scholarly journals Bridging the Gap between Denotational Semantics of Traditional Contract And Smart Contract

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-58
Author(s):  
Wai Wai Wong ◽  
Chin Lay Gan

In this era of increasing cyber dependency in business dealings there is huge potential in the adoption of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) particularly in the context of smart contract in the commercial world. The phenomenon of smart contract operates independently without the cumbersome need to engage any intermediary and is capable of executing specific task.(Thake, 2018) People relates it more to a piece of code (known as a software agent) that is designed to execute certain tasks if pre-defined conditions are met. Such tasks are often embedded within, and performed on a distributed ledger.”(Stark, 2016) However, if one accepts the contention that smart contract is not merely as a set of computer code but a smart legal contract which contains obligations and legal terms that are enforceable, hence, in programming or writing smart contract, one must ensure that the software developers who design smart contract take note of the legal rules and principles behind the specific type of contract in question. It has been argued that there is too much dependency on the programming aspect in the creation of smart contracts by programmers and computer scientists. (Khalil et al., 2017)

Author(s):  
Primavera De Filippi ◽  
Samer Hassan

“Code is law” refers to the idea that, with the advent of digital technology, code has progressively established itself as the predominant way to regulate the behavior of Internet users. Yet, while computer code can enforce rules more efficiently than legal code, it also comes with a series of limitations, mostly because it is difficult to transpose the ambiguity and flexibility of legal rules into a formalized language which can be interpreted by a machine. With the advent of blockchain technology and associated smart contracts, code is assuming an even stronger role in regulating people’s interactions over the Internet, as many contractual transactions get transposed into smart contract code. In this paper, we describe the shift from the traditional notion of “code is law” (i.e., code having the effect of law) to the new conception of “law is code” (i.e., law being defined as code).


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-404
Author(s):  
Alireza Alikhani ◽  
Hamid Reza Hamidi

A smart contract is a digital protocol (software code) that enables automated monitoring and executing contract’s provisions without the need for intermediaries. Blockchain technology allows implementing smart contracts through a distributed ledger, but has no reliable way of enforcing legal rules. For example, in networks such as Bitcoin, it is possible to engage in illegal activities such as money laundering and dealing in weapons. In addition, it is impossible to enforce and audit legal costs such as taxes and duties. This research has devised a plan that allows official institutions to enforce the rules and audits efficiently during automatic execution process of smart contracts. This article discusses five important challenges in applying legal rules to Blockchain: the accreditation to the contracting parties’ and the goods’ nature, collecting legal costs, enforcing territorial laws and auditing. We present “Hyper Smart Contract”, a method for regulating Blockchain-based smart contracts and assess the limitations of the current generation of smart contracts on Ethereum to ensure a proper implementation of this plan. The performance of proposed method evaluated on a motivation application.


Lex Russica ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 51-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. S. Grin ◽  
E. S. Grin ◽  
A. V. Solovyov

Within the framework of this article, the authors carry out the study of the design of the smart contract in the context of jurisprudence and technical sciences. The paper analyzes the legal nature of the smart contract and the issues concerning the scope of application (in relation to distributed ledger technology).The authors conclude that the category of “smart contract” can be defined in technical and legal aspects. In foreign literature, there are two categories: a legal smart contract and a smart contract code (or smart contract). The smart contract as a technical phenomenon represents a computer code that allows automated fulfillment of obligations. From legal point of view, the approaches to the definition of the smart contract depend primarily on the fact that the authors rely on the possibility of using smart contracts only within the framework of distributed ledger technology or other information technologies. At the same time, the majority of authors share the view that the smart contract exists exclusively in relation to the technology of distributed ledgers, namely, the blockchain. The article proposes to define the smart contract as a standard (special) contractual design — a contract concluded by electronic or other technical means, under the terms of which performance of the obligation is carried out without directed explicit additional expression of will (under Part 2 of Article 309 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).The article states that the smart contract cannot be qualified as an independent way of ensuring the performance of obligations. Such qualification is possible only if the functional approach to understanding security is applied. The paper examines the main fields of application of smart contracts and possible risks of their application (in terms of statement of terms of agreements in relation to a programming language; in respect of necessity of compliance with such fundamental principles of civil law as legality, fairness, protection of the weak; the need for communication with public authorities and notaries, as well as risks of using smart contracts in relations involving the participation of consumers). A separate set of questions concerns the protection of the rights infringed due to the use of smart contracts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-3
Author(s):  
Ingo Weber

Blockchain is a novel distributed ledger technology. Through its features and smart contract capabilities, a wide range of application areas opened up for blockchain-based innovation [5]. In order to analyse how concrete blockchain systems as well as blockchain applications are used, data must be extracted from these systems. Due to various complexities inherent in blockchain, the question how to interpret such data is non-trivial. Such interpretation should often be shared among parties, e.g., if they collaborate via a blockchain. To this end, we devised an approach codify the interpretation of blockchain data, to extract data from blockchains accordingly, and to output it in suitable formats [1, 2]. This work will be the main topic of the keynote. In addition, application developers and users of blockchain applications may want to estimate the cost of using or operating a blockchain application. In the keynote, I will also discuss our cost estimation method [3, 4]. This method was designed for the Ethereum blockchain platform, where cost also relates to transaction complexity, and therefore also to system throughput.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Rahim Rahmani ◽  
Ramin Firouzi ◽  
Sachiko Lim ◽  
Mahbub Alam

The major challenges of operating data-intensive of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) are (1) to reach consensus on the main chain as a set of validators cast public votes to decide on which blocks to finalize and (2) scalability on how to increase the number of chains which will be running in parallel. In this paper, we introduce a new proximal algorithm that scales DLT in a large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) devices network. We discuss how the algorithm benefits the integrating DLT in IoT by using edge computing technology, taking the scalability and heterogeneous capability of IoT devices into consideration. IoT devices are clustered dynamically into groups based on proximity context information. A cluster head is used to bridge the IoT devices with the DLT network where a smart contract is deployed. In this way, the security of the IoT is improved and the scalability and latency are solved. We elaborate on our mechanism and discuss issues that should be considered and implemented when using the proposed algorithm, we even show how it behaves with varying parameters like latency or when clustering.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 488-492
Author(s):  
Jovan Karamachoski ◽  
Ninoslav Marina ◽  
Pavel Taskov

Blockchain technology will bring a disruption in plenty of industries and businesses. Recently it proved the robustness, immutability, auditability, in many crucial practical applications. The blockchain structure offers traceability of actions, alterations, alerts, which is an important property of a system needed for development of sustainable technologies. A crucial part of the blockchain technology regarding the optimization of the processes is the smart contract. It is a self-executable computer code, open and transparent, encoding the terms of a regular contract. It is able to automate the processes, thus decreasing the human-factor mistakes or counterfeits. In this paper, we are presenting the feasibility of the blockchain technology in the certification processes, with an application developed for university diploma certification. The example is easily transferable in other areas and business models such as logistics, supply chain management, or other segments where certification is essential.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siti Rohaya Mat Rahim ◽  
Zam Zuriyati Mohamad ◽  
Juliana Abu Bakar ◽  
Farhana Hanim Mohsin ◽  
Norhayati Md Isa

This study examines the two important aspect of latest technology issues in Islamic finance that related to artificial intelligence (AI) and smart contract. AI refers to the ability of machines to understand, think, and learn in a similar way to human beings, indicating the possibility of using computers to simulate human intelligence. Smart contract is a computer code running on top of a block-chain containing a set of rules under which the parties to that smart contract agree to interact with each other. The main objectives of this article are to evaluate the operations of AI and smart contract, to make comparison between the operations of AI and smart contract. This article concludes that AI and smart contract will have a huge impact in future for Islamic Finance industry.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (22) ◽  
pp. 130-137
Author(s):  
Omar Ahmed Hussein ◽  
Khadijah Mohamed

This paper aims to examine Iraq’s rights, being the downstream country, towards the use of Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and the extent to which international water resources are protected under international law. Being the downstream country, projects constructed on the banks of Tigris and Euphrates Rivers had significantly impacted Iraq as less water flows into the country. The discussion in this paper outlines principles of the existing international conventions and protocols in this area by adopting a doctrinal legal research approach which has great significance to understand the relevant substantive law through the analysis of legal rules, court judgments, and statutes. The paper concludes that historically, Iraq had an acquired right, a right confirmed by the international rules and principles, to share the usage of water from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers with the upstream countries comprising of Turkey, Syria, and Iran. This paper suggests that all riparian countries of the Tigris and the Euphrates should abide by the rules of international law and recognize Iraq’s historical water ratios of these rivers based on the principle of the acquired right under international law.


2021 ◽  
Vol 235 ◽  
pp. 03020
Author(s):  
Qian Liao ◽  
Mimi Shao

Features like the distributed ledger, consensus mechanism, asymmetric encryption technology, smart contract and Token of blockchain can lower transaction cost, enhance trust between customers and merchants, as well as eliminate false payment and consumer information leakage, problems which are common in current payment of cross-border E-Commerce platform. Based on the analysis of existing scholars, this paper studied two payment models: digital cash payment based on blockchain technology and the application of blockchain in third-party payment platform. Then the paper discussed the mechanism of blockchain in cross-border e-commerce payment platform, and creatively proposed a blockchain cross-border e-commerce payment platform, serving as reference and guidance for further development of blockchain technology in cross-border payment.1


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document