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67 Clev. St. L. Rev. 71 (2019)
Smart Contracts and Traditional Contract Law, or: The Law of the Vending Machine

handle is hein.journals/clevslr67 and id is 79 raw text is: SMART CONTRACTS AND TRADITIONAL CONTRACT LAW, OR: THE LAW OF THE VENDING MACHINE JONATHAN G. ROHR* ABSTRACT Smart contracts are the new norm, yet state legislatures and courts have not developed set rules and answers to legal disputes that these contracts create. Is traditional contract law sufficient? Or should we create an entirely new legislative or common law scheme to deal with these disputes? The common law has proven to be successful in dealing with new technologies and contracts, particularly because of its flexibility. Although a major overhaul may be in the future, there are still solutions that we can find today with the current legal landscape given the state of contract law and its evolution over time. One particularly analogous body of case law is instructive; the law of the vending machine. In the end, thinking about smart contracts as vending machines may be fruitful for the future of this evolving area of the law. CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 71 II. AN ONGOING ROLE FOR CONTRACT LAW ..................................... 74 III. VENDING MACHINE CONTRACTING .......................................... 79 IV. SMART CONTRACT As LEGAL CONTRACT ................................. 85 V . CONCLUSION .............................................................................. 91 Here the age of the machine is no mere abstraction; it presents itself in the shape of an instrument for the mass distribution of standard contracts.' 1. INTRODUCTION In a relatively short period of time, smart contracts have entered the mainstream. Gone are the days in which excitement over blockchains and their ability to store code for automatic, future execution was the sole province of cypherpunks and other cryptography enthusiasts. Major players in a variety of sectors are beginning to consider the myriad ways that smart contracts, and distributed ledger technology more generally, can change the ways in which they transact business. A consortium of major banks-including HSBC, Barclays, and Credit Suisse-are collaborating on the development of a blockchain and smart contract based settlement coin designed to allow banks to clear and settle transactions between each other instantaneously.2 * Assistant Professor of Law, University of Tennessee College of Law. Steven v. Fid. & Cas. Co. of N.Y., 377 P.2d 284, 298 (Cal. 1962). 2 Michael Del Castillo, Barclays, HSBC Join Settlement Coin as Bank Blockchain Test Enters New Phase, COiNDESK (Aug. 31, 2017), https://www.coindesk.com/hsbc-barclays-join- utility-settlement-coin-as-bank-blockchain-test-enters-final-phase/.

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