Research On Legal Effectiveness Of Blockchain Smart Contracts

As a core application of blockchain technology in the 2.0 phase,smart contracts rely on computer technologies such as distributed ledgers,blockchain data structures,and cryptography as underlying architecture.They have disruptive characteristics that create a new decentralized trust model endorsed by technology,with features such as decentralization,immutability,and automatic execution,effectively eliminating the possibility of breach of contract.Smart contracts have enormous potential for development.The horizontal extension of blockchain smart contracts includes the set of participants,the set of contract resources,the automatic state machine,and the set of contract transactions.The vertical extension of blockchain smart contracts,from bottom to top,consists of infrastructure layer,contract layer.operation and maintenance layer,intelligent layer,presentation layer,and application layer,presenting a dual-functional attribute of technology and law.The former refers to "smart contract code".At the technical level,the smart contract "itself is a system participant" and responds,delivers,and transmits trust value.The latter refers to "smart legal contracts".At the legal level,smart contracts comprehensively cover the relationship between the parties and can carry the parties’ expressions of intent.The two aspects of smart contracts,as an integrated whole,are interdependent and mutually beneficial.According to their legal attributes,the primary legal form of a contract-based blockchain smart contract can be classified.From the perspective of the internal contract logic,the contract-based blockchain smart contract contains the expression of the intention of both parties to agree to the contract text or the "offer-acceptance" structure.The offeror issues a smart contract and signs the offer,which is an offer.The offeree signs and executes the contract code and is thus a commitment,with this method of commitment being the realization of intent.From the perspective of the external form,the legality of the computing code form of smart contracts can be recognized by utilizing the principles of contract form freedom and functional equivalence,and the provision of data telegrams can be analogized,with the computing code that can be tangibly represented and called up at any time being treated as a written form.In order to ensure the validity of the contract-based blockchain smart contract,different anonymous restrictions need to be distinguished in terms of the civil capacity of the subject in different operating environments.In terms of efficacy defects,in order to ensure the fundamental feature of the automatic performance and execution of blockchain smart contracts,the scope of modification should be strictly limited,and it should be clearly stated that only in special circumstances such as significant misunderstandings,coercion,major coding errors,or severe code tampering can the situation give both parties the right to revoke and remedy.The "intelligence" of blockchain smart contracts lies in their ability to "read" and"automatically execute" contracts.As the core difference between smart contracts and traditional protocols or electronic contracts."automatic execution" is the essence of smart contracts.In terms of contract performance,the conversion process from "real-world agreements-smart legal contracts-chaincode" creates a revolutionary way of contract performance that is different from the "being present" of traditional agreements.At the same time,it raises the issue of the legal effect of smart contracts’ automatic performance,which needs to be examined from two aspects:whether there is consistency between the parties’intentions and the code’s intentions and whether the code’s intentions are consistent with legal provisions.Regarding the breach handling mechanism,seeking private remedies by the parties or allowing blockchain smart contracts to execute autonomously should have a legal basis.When the legality of the measures is in doubt,traditional legal methods should still be pursued,namely public remedies.Meanwhile,the responsible subject for wrongful execution and the rules for responsibility allocation should be clarified,and a conflict resolution mechanism that links on-chain and off-chain environments should be established.The "trust value" brought directly or indirectly by blockchain smart contracts,including efficiency,fairness,and justice,is highly consistent with the basic principles followed by civil justice and the basic goals pursued by civil justice.The combination of blockchain smart contracts and civil justice has the potential to be applied in civil litigation and execution.Civil litigation and execution are based on legally effective legal documents,which specify the rights and obligations of both parties and minimize the risks of language translation and automatic execution.At the same time,the legal values and goals embodied by smart contract justice are consistent with the legal values and goals of civil justice.Therefore,civil justice is the current best application scenario for the judicial application of smart contracts.The civil judicial application of blockchain smart contracts needs to fully and comprehensively embody their technical characteristics and be included in the scope of adjustment of the existing legal system.On the one hand,the state should recognize the legal status and legal effect of blockchain smart contracts,clarify their contract attributes and scope of application.On the other hand,it should also improve the rules for the conclusion and performance of blockchain smart contracts.Through the construction of a unified national blockchain judicial platform,the decentralization of blockchain smart contracts can be reconciled with the centralization of justice.