Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T10:16:56.115Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Challenges of Smart Contracts

Implementing Excuses

from Part II - Contract Law and Smart Contracts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2019

By
Eric Tjong Tjin Tai
Edited by
Larry A. DiMatteo ,
Michel Cannarsa  and
Cristina Poncibò
Larry A. DiMatteo
Affiliation:
University of Florida
Michel Cannarsa
Affiliation:
Université Catholique de Lyon
Cristina Poncibò
Affiliation:
Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy
Get access

Summary

The chapter focuses on an important part of contract law, namely the law of excuses, in the context of smart contracts development. Smart contracts are supposed to secure actual performance, but to be able to do so appropriately, they need to take into account the possibility that a contract party may raise a valid excuse for non-performance of his obligations. Smart contracts should be able to deal with the possibility of at least some excuses; hence, this analysis may test the suitability of smart contracts for actual contracting. The chapter provides a comparative overview of excuses and hardship, culminating in a “common core” of the rules of various jurisdictions, and investigates whether and how excuses can be dealt with in smart contracts. This analysis shows some limitations of smart contracts, which leads to a more general discussion about possibilities and limitations of smart contracts.

Keywords

Excusesperformancenonperformancecomparisonhardship
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Smart Contracts, Blockchain Technology and Digital Platforms , pp. 80 - 101
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×