Smartcontractsareagreementswhoseexecutionisautomatedbycomputercodesthattranslatelegalproseintoanexecutableprogram.Theyaredesignedtoensuretheperformanceofagreementsautomatically,withouthumaninvolvement.Smartcontractshavereceivedtremendousattentionlatelyasitcouldbringabouttheenormousimpacttomanyindustriesthatwillrevolutionizebusinessandredefineeconomics;smartcontractsalsohavecreatedthefearthattheywouldoverturnthelegalindustryanddisplacemillionsoflegaljobs.Therefore,itiscriticaltofirstidentifytheroleofsmartcontractsinthecurrentlegalsystemandexploremechanismsforsmartcontractstobetterservethelegalresearch,legalpractice,andlegalprofessionals,nottodisplacethelegalindustrythoroughly.Inthisarticle,theauthorproposesthatsmartcontractsassumeaninstrumentalroleaimedatservingthecurrentcontractlawsystem,insteadoftryingtobecomeanalternativetothatsystem.Embeddingsmartcontractswithinthecurrentcontractlawsystem,whichtheyfunctionasatool,representsasituationwithconsiderablemorepotentialforsuccess.Thesuccesswouldderivefromsmartcontracts’valueofincreasedefficiency.Withsuchvalue,theauthorfurtherproposesthreeguidelinesforenhancedinstrumentalfunctionalitywithintheexistingcontractlawsystemfromthreeperspectives,includingspecificationofareasofapplication,technologicalimprovement,andlegalsupport.
