<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//NLM//DTD JATS (Z39.96) Journal Publishing DTD v1.3 20210610//EN" "JATS-journalpublishing1-3.dtd">
<article article-type="research-article" dtd-version="1.3" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xml:lang="en"><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">diright</journal-id><journal-title-group><journal-title xml:lang="en">Digital Law Journal</journal-title><trans-title-group xml:lang="ru"><trans-title>Цифровое право</trans-title></trans-title-group></journal-title-group><issn pub-type="epub">2686-9136</issn><publisher><publisher-name>Maxim Inozemtsev</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.38044/2686-9136-2020-1-4-8-24</article-id><article-id custom-type="elpub" pub-id-type="custom">diright-30</article-id><article-categories><subj-group subj-group-type="heading"><subject>Research Article</subject></subj-group><subj-group subj-group-type="section-heading" xml:lang="en"><subject>ESSAYS</subject></subj-group><subj-group subj-group-type="section-heading" xml:lang="ru"><subject>ЭССЕ</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title>Smart Contracts in the New Era of Contract Law</article-title><trans-title-group xml:lang="ru"><trans-title>Смарт-контракты как новая тенденция договорного права</trans-title></trans-title-group></title-group><contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes"><name-alternatives><name name-style="eastern" xml:lang="ru"><surname>Папантониу</surname><given-names>А. А.</given-names></name><name name-style="western" xml:lang="en"><surname>Papantoniou</surname><given-names>Alexandros A.</given-names></name></name-alternatives><bio xml:lang="ru"><p>Папантониу А.А. — магистр права (LSE), адвокат</p><p>1066, Кипр, Никосия, Темистокли Дерви, 41</p></bio><bio xml:lang="en"><p>Alexandros A. Papantoniou — LLM (LSE), Advocate </p><p>41, Themistokli Dervi, Nicosia, Cyprus, 1066</p></bio><email xlink:type="simple">alexandros.papantoniou1@gmail.com</email><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff-1"/></contrib></contrib-group><aff-alternatives id="aff-1"><aff xml:lang="ru"><institution>Papantoniou &amp; Papantoniou LLC</institution><country>Кипр</country></aff><aff xml:lang="en"><institution>Papantoniou &amp; Papantoniou LLC</institution><country>Cyprus</country></aff></aff-alternatives><pub-date pub-type="collection"><year>2020</year></pub-date><pub-date pub-type="epub"><day>30</day><month>12</month><year>2020</year></pub-date><volume>1</volume><issue>4</issue><fpage>8</fpage><lpage>24</lpage><permissions><copyright-statement>Copyright &amp;#x00A9; Papantoniou A.A., 2020</copyright-statement><copyright-year>2020</copyright-year><copyright-holder xml:lang="ru">Папантониу А.А.</copyright-holder><copyright-holder xml:lang="en">Papantoniou A.A.</copyright-holder><license xml:lang="ru" license-type="creative-commons-attribution" xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" xlink:type="simple"><license-p>Данная работа распространяется под лицензией Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.</license-p></license><license xml:lang="en" license-type="creative-commons-attribution" xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" xlink:type="simple"><license-p>This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.</license-p></license></permissions><self-uri xlink:href="https://www.digitallawjournal.org/jour/article/view/30">https://www.digitallawjournal.org/jour/article/view/30</self-uri><abstract><p>This essay examines whether smart contract innovation is capable of displacing the orthodox adherence to traditional contracts. This examination is underpinned by an analysis of the legality of smart contracts, through which it is exemplified that smart contracts ought to be considered legally binding instruments. The essay proceeds to explore the superiority of smart contracting on a technical and theoretical basis. The advantages generated through smart contract automaticity and enforceability present a concrete basis for undermining reliance on traditional contracts. Blockchain Technology also enhances the benefits of smart contracts by acting as a smart contract enabler through guaranteed performance and enforceability. Nevertheless, such novel technologies inevitably suffer from several shortcomings. This essay considers examples which illustrate the inflexibility of smart contracting. Apart from being susceptible to hacking and code exploitation, smart contracting is unable to deal with ambiguities and potential modifications. Overall, this suggests that the advantages of smart contract practice are currently confined to some specified limited scenarios. Smart contracts perform a different function to traditional contracting by merely guaranteeing technical enforceability as opposed to legal enforceability. This essay thus concludes that, for the time being, it is best to regard smart contracting as a supplement to traditional contracts rather than an outright displacement.</p></abstract><trans-abstract xml:lang="ru"><p>В эссе рассматриваются смарт-контракты как одно из оснований возникновения обязательств наряду с классическими договорами. Автоматическое исполнение с использованием технологии блокчейн как особенность конструкции является явным преимуществом по сравнению с традиционными договорными механизмами. В то же время такие новые технологии неизбежно имеют ряд недостатков. В эссе рассматриваются примеры, иллюстрирующие отсутствие гибкости смарт-контрактов. Кроме того, они подвержены взлому и эксплуатации кода и не могут справиться с двусмысленностями и потенциальными модификациями. Автор приходит к выводу о том, что в настоящее время новая популярная конструкция все же не может вытеснить классические договорные формы, а находит свое применение лишь в ограниченных сферах.</p></trans-abstract><kwd-group xml:lang="ru"><kwd>смарт-контракты</kwd><kwd>блокчейн</kwd><kwd>код</kwd><kwd>искусственный интеллект</kwd><kwd>автоматизированные правовые инструменты</kwd><kwd>децентрализованные автономные организации</kwd></kwd-group><kwd-group xml:lang="en"><kwd>smart contracts</kwd><kwd>blockchain</kwd><kwd>coding</kwd><kwd>artificial intelligence</kwd><kwd>automated legal instruments</kwd><kwd>decentralised autonomous organisations</kwd></kwd-group><funding-group><funding-statement xml:lang="ru">Лондонская школа экономики и политических наук; Papantoniou &amp; Papantoniou LLC.</funding-statement></funding-group></article-meta></front><back><ref-list><title>References</title></ref-list><fn-group><fn fn-type="conflict"><p>The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest present.</p></fn></fn-group></back></article>
