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Assuming you live in a certain subset of countries, sure that could happen (take a look at what happens when an American sues a Chinese citizen). But it defeats the purpose of a smart contract.

If everyone agrees that smart contracts will pay out when they are fufilled. But only if they are fufilled in the specific way each party believes they should be (as opposed to what the code actually says)--then there is no point in smart contracts.

A potential solution is some form of very explicit disclaimer that states you are agreeing X should be paid when the code in contract Y executes, not when the condition you believe the code in contract Y tests for is met.

Of course a court could still ignore the disclaimer.



The problem is that, for better or for worse, people do not have full freedom of contract by law. There are volumes upon volumes of laws and regulations limiting the kind of financial contracts, for example, that you are allowed to enter into. Every bank has a massive compliance department dedicated to making sure that they abide by those rules.

You can't just ignore these rules by making a system that executes contracts automatically. The judge will simply order you to make the other party whole. Then, if the law allows it, he might hit you with a massive fine for breaking the rules.


That's what I meant when I said courts might chose to ignore the disclaimer.

It is possible you could eventually be able to sign something making the smart contract a form of binding arbitration.

But you're correct, courts law enforcement isn't going to let you enter into illegal contracts just because it's a smart contract.




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