Special Edition on “Smart Legal Contracts: Moving from Aspiration to Reality”
The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG, the Editorial Board of the Journal of Law, Information & Science (JLIS), and Special Editor Dr Jason Grant Allen invite submissions to a Special Edition of the JLIS for publication in April 2020. Sir Geoffrey Vos, Chancellor of the High Court of England and Wales, has contributed the Lead Article [read] .
Theme
This Special Edition explores what it would take for “smart legal contracts”—transactional algorithms that express enforceable legal relations—to move from concept into practice. This involves considerations of how “end to end” solutions might operate, what elements (“smart” and conventional) they might include, and what legal issues they might raise. Submissions are invited from specialists in law, humanities, social sciences and STEM disciplines. Academic, technical, inter-disciplinary and cross-jurisdictional perspectives are welcome. Doctrinally-focussed studies should consider the common law jurisdictions of the Commonwealth.
Topics
A technical background is provided in the Annexes to this
Consultation Paper. A number of open questions are set out in the Lead Article, and some assumptions framing this Call derive from
J.G. Allen, “Wrapped and Stacked: ‘Smart Contracts’ and the Interaction of Natural and Formal Language” (2018) 14(4) European Review of Contract Law 307. Authors should seek to engage critically with these under the following broad topic areas:
- The concept of smart contracts (e.g. neither “smart” nor “contracts”, relation to other transactional algorithms, relation to cryptoassets, the notion of a “contract stack”);
- Use cases for smart contracts (e.g. present and future applications, looking beyond financial transactions, use in organisation and governance);
- The legal basis of “smart legal contracts” (e.g. choice of law, incorporation of terms, anonymity/pseudonymity);
- Interactions between smart contracts and conventional law (e.g. the “Zamfir/Szabo debate”, smart contracts and conflicts of laws, jurisdiction over DAOs);
- Design principles, elements, and emerging best practices (e.g. dispute resolution layers, security standards, coding languages)
Essay Prize
Clifford Chance (UK) has generously provided an Essay Prize of £500 for early and mid-career scholars. Authors are to indicate their participation with their submission.
Entries will be judged by the Special Editor and Sir Geoffrey Vos.
Form of Submissions
Authors may submit:
- Long Articles (8,000-10,000 words),
- Short Articles (4,000-6,000 words) (both peer-reviewed); and
- Notes (1,500-3,500 words including case, practice, and technical notes).
Abstracts are to be submitted in Microsoft Word or RTF format by email attachment to the Special Editor: Law.Publications@utas.edu.au. The style-guide for JLIS is found here.
Key dates
- 1 November 2019: Abstracts of 500 words or less including proposal and author details and submission type.
- 1 February 2020: Final manuscript submission for expedited peer review.
- 1 April 2020: Online publication.
Dr Jason Grant Allen, on behalf of
the Journal of Law, Information & Science Editorial Board and The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG.