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  • 16 - Smart Contracts and Automation of Private Relationships

  • from Part III - Roles and Responsibilities of Private Actors
  • Edited by Hans-W. Micklitz, European University Institute, Florence, Oreste Pollicino, Amnon Reichman, University of California, Berkeley, Andrea Simoncini, Giovanni Sartor, European University Institute, Florence, Giovanni De Gregorio, University of Oxford
  • Book:
    Constitutional Challenges in the Algorithmic Society
    Published online:
    01 November 2021
    Print publication:
    02 December 2021, pp 315-330
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  • Summary

    The main quality of a smart contract relies on the automation of contractual relationships, as the performance is triggered by an algorithm in turn triggered by the fulfilment of certain events. Most of the benefits arising from smart contracts are based on the ‘self-executing’ and ‘self-enforcing’ character, which represent a source of innovation for general contract law. Smart contracts use blockchain to ensure the transparency of the contractual relationship and to create trust in the capacity to execute the contract, which depends on the technology used. The aim of the present essay is to investigate whether and how blockchain technology platforms and smart contracts could be considered a modern form of private authority, which at least partially escapes the application of mandatory rules and traditional enforcement mechanisms. In particular, the authors will devote attention to innovative self-help mechanisms and dispute resolution systems, which can be depicted as ‘alternative’ insofar as they present themselves as independent from courts and other national state authorities.