Smart Contracts: A New Era of Contract Use

24 Pages Posted: 23 Dec 2017

See all articles by Paul Catchlove

Paul Catchlove

Queensland University of Technology - Faculty of Law, Students

Date Written: December 1, 2017

Abstract

Given the rise of interest, opportunities and use of smart contracts, it is important to understand what they are, what technology they rely upon and how they function so that it can be ascertained whether this new technology requires additional regulation, or whether the law as it stands is adequate to administer their usage. This paper will outline two key contentions. First, that smart contracts are well managed by existing contract law principles, however, there are some novel issues associated with this new technology. Second, this paper will suggest a resolution on how to take these novel issues into consideration and ensure they are overcome.

Keywords: smart contracts, blockchain, contract law, bitcoin, ethereum, solidarity

Suggested Citation

Catchlove, Paul, Smart Contracts: A New Era of Contract Use (December 1, 2017). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3090226 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3090226

Paul Catchlove (Contact Author)

Queensland University of Technology - Faculty of Law, Students ( email )

Brisbane
Australia

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
3,302
Abstract Views
9,102
Rank
7,857
PlumX Metrics