Creating markets in no-trust environments: The law and economics of smart contracts

Smart contracts, self-executing agreements based on blockchain technology, have the capacity to create trust in what we term no-trust contracting environments. We argue that using them in such environments is the path to unleash the full potential of smart contracts. Compared to the contract enforcement mechanisms characterized by traditional contract law or relational contracts, smart contracts can offer a superior solution for facilitating trade.Several lawyers and economists have debated whether smart contracts might offer the prospect of cheaper, faster and better transactions. As we discuss below, contract law scholars caution that they neither replicate the relational context essential for the day-to-day practice of contracting nor offer a superior solution to problems addressed by traditional contract law, such as contract validity and legality. We clarify and systematize the current thinking on the legal nature and reliability of smart contracts, and address the concerns of contract law scholars. While doing that, we suggest a step forward in characterizing contracting environments, contract enforcement mechanisms and the trust relationship underlying contracts.     

Public‐Private Arbitration and the Public Interest under English Law

Together with the increase in the number of public‐private contracts, recent years have seen a marked proliferation in public‐private arbitrations. This article explores the public interest implications which may arise in such arbitrations and examines how public‐private arbitration is treated under English law. We argue that, due to the lack of a developed administrative law sphere in England and the historical development of arbitration as an exclusively private mode of dispute resolution, the current legal framework of arbitration in England has developed around the private law paradigm of a commercial dispute involving private actors. This private law paradigm results in a conceptual and legal void in respect of how public interest is accounted for, and protected, in arbitrations involving public bodies under English law. Therefore, we suggest that English arbitration law needs to be amended to adequately protect the private interest in public‐private arbitration.     

高等教育合同基本构架的民法考察

从民法视角分析高等学校与大学生之间的法律关系,必须静态考察该高等教育合同关系的主体、客体和内容三个构成要素,动态考察高等教育合同的订立、履行和终止三个环节。这种考察分析不仅对于高等教育合同的本质属性、基本构架及其运行过程具有理论意义,对于明晰学校与学生双方当事人权利义务关系、保护双方当事人权益、正确处理矛盾与争议也具有实践价值。     

When Law Stands Still: Land Contracts in English Law and Law's “Abandonment” of Everyday Life

After the 1989 reform on land contracts - the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 - a contract for the sale or other disposition of an interest in land could only be made in writing. Behind what appears to be merely a “technical” rule of private law lies, hidden, something that is rather more serious than that - the figure itself of nothing less than the relationship between law and everyday life in Europe's systems of private law. Text and context, alone, are necessary but insufficient analytical steps to uncover such a figure. Instead, it is here suggested, one must rethink the relationship between law and everyday life in terms of “abandonment”.Building on (without necessarily fully endorsing) philosophical insights from Heidegger, Nancy and Agamben, the paper provides a first inroad into one of the most troubling aspects of the modern nation state - law's abandonment of everyday life. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

建设工程施工合同纠纷案件审理中存在的诸问题——兼评最高法院《关于审理建设工程施工合同纠纷案件适用法律问题的解释》的不足

建设工程合同纠纷争议内容和案件事实错综复杂,涉及法律适用的新情况和新问题较多,审判实践中因司法理念和对法律精神的理解差异,往往造成审判中的司法标准不统一,案件处理各异,影响了人民法院公正与效率这一世纪主题的实现和良好的形象.文章通过对全区法院审理此类案件的深入调研,认真总结分析了目前法院审理此类案件的情况、特点和存在问题,并在此基础上,结合审判实践并结合最高法院最近司法解释,对影响今后审判实践的法律问题和司法实务提出了自已的意见.     

房地产合作建房合同效力的认定及处理

在我国房地产开发建设不断发展的同时,因房地产开发经营合同而引起的纠纷在房地产纠纷案件中占有极大的比例,而对于这一类案件的处理,立法上则相对处于滞后状态,导致司法实践中同一类型、同一性质的案件在判决结果上的截然不同。如何克服房地产立法与实践的严重脱节,是当前迫切需要解决的问题。在实践中,房地产合作开发建房合同大体表现为五种形式。确认房地产合作开发合同的效力,应考虑不同时期成立的合同,应当适用不同的法律依据确认其效力,同时应审查签订合同的主体资格、合同的内容是否合法以及政府职能部门的管理对房地产合同效力的影响等因素。房地产开发合同纠纷的处理应依有效合同和无效合同的不同情形处理。     

论无效合同与诉讼时效的适用

由于现行立法没有对无效合同是否适用诉讼时效的问题予以明确规定,造成理论和实务中常常认识不一。应从遵循立法的价值选择,即效率与公平的关系及保护交易安全等角度出发,对无效合同是否适用诉讼时效作出肯定回答,并对由此引起的相关问题在结合实践的基础上进行理论分析。     

论用人单位与劳务派遣工之间的关系

劳务派遣工、劳务派遣单位与用人单位法律关系是一种劳动契约关系,劳务派遣单位与劳务派遣工之间的关系,是劳动合同关系,而用人单位与劳务派遣工之间的关系,则是一种特别权力关系。在后者的特别权力关系中,如果用人单位不按法定或约定的规定履行义务,给劳务派遣工造成实体权益的损害,须承担相应的违约责任。