By Matthew O’Toole, Christopher Kelly and David Hahn (February 7, 2018, 5:33 PM EST) -- With the development of advanced distributed ledger technology and coding comes the potential for deployment of "smart contracts." These programs autonomously effectuate and enforce contractual rights and obligations without the need for further human intervention. Strictly speaking, a "smart contract" need not be a legal agreement at all; fundamentally, it is computer code that automates performance of an already existing contract. Yet many smart contracts — such as the "Ricardian Contract" and other "smart legal agreements" — may constitute self-effectuating contracts in software, potentially in a format that could be both machine-readable and intelligible to the parties and their counsel. Given the promise that blockchain technology holds for making certain types of transactions more efficient, economical, reliable and transparent, smart contracts have been the subject of substantial development efforts by financial institutions and technology firms....
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