Tobin South (Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - MIT Media Laboratory) & Robert Mahari (Harvard Law School; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Human Dynamics Group) have posted Justice in a Vaccum? (Computational Legal Futures, Network Law Review. (2023)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Legal obligations are worthless without a judicial system to enforce them. The world of cryptocurrencies faces a similar issue today. Although cryptography can be used to create immutable records of legal obligations, it cannot always enforce them. Some transactions, especially those involving offline world assets, require an additional mechanism to enforce obligations and adjudicate disputes. In this piece, we will begin to explore what it would take to make these visions a reality: how can legal obligations be enforced independently of contemporary legal systems to provide justice in a vacuum?
We explore the feasibility of a truly decentralized form of dispute resolution that relies entirely on network effects to enforce judgments. In doing so, we surface a number of onerous requirements — like the need for identity and reputation mechanisms — and consider several challenges to decentralized dispute resolution. Though a fully decentralized dispute resolution system does not currently appear feasible, elements of this network-based justice system may be applied today, especially in contexts where the rule of law is weak.
Highly recommended. Fascinating. Important.
I have to confess that the title called up the image of a Roomba with a dispute resolution function.
