Three ideas about Smart Contracts

The evolution of electronic contracting has had three stages: the classic, in which the offer and acceptance by electronic means were recognized as a valid way to negotiate and enter into contracts. The proof of the traditional electronic contract depended on the technical reliability of the data messages that were crossed between the parties. The interpretation of the traditional electronic contracts did not offer major problems because they were expressed in common language and the clauses corresponded in general to the usual standards in their drafting and content.

Por: Daniel Peña Valenzuela

1. CONSENT

The evolution of electronic contracting has had three stages: the classic, in which the offer and acceptance by electronic means were recognized as a valid way to negotiate and enter into contracts.

Later, the electronic contracts were published as terms and conditions on web pages and their consent could come from simple on-line navigation with the potential to access the content.

With electronic contracts, automation not only covers the conclusion of the contract but also the execution of the contract. the risks of unilateral modification, non-compliance or breach would disappear.

2. EVIDENCE

The proof of the traditional electronic contract depended on the technical reliability of the data messages that were crossed between the parties.

The evidence of the terms and conditions published on the internet sites depended on proving that the content had been published, there was the possibility of accessing the content and what was presented to the judge pr arbitrator corresponded to what was presented to the user or consumer.

The combination of cryptography and the characteristic distribution of ledgers in blockchain allows the basis of the weight of evidence of smart contracts to be presumption regarding the content of the transaction represented in the blocks of information.

3. INTERPRETATION

The interpretation of the traditional electronic contracts did not offer major problems because they were expressed in common language and the clauses corresponded in general to the usual standards in their drafting and content.

The interpretation of the smart contracts only requires the technical verification with respect to compliance with the instructions by the information system that incorporates the obligations of the parties. However, it is likely that complex interpretation will be required if there are inconsistencies between the original intention of the parties and the content of the obligations that were translated into computer code.