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A comment on A hacker stole $31M of Ether – how it happened, and what it means for Ethereum. Parent comment

Re:A hacker stole $31M of Ether – how it happened, and what ... by wildmusings on Friday July 21, 2017 @04:13AM (#14818901)
The problem is that, for better or for worse, people do not have full freedom of contract by law. There are volumes upon volumes of laws and regulations limiting the kind of financial contracts, for example, that you are allowed to enter into. Every bank has a massive compliance department dedicated to making sure that they abide by those rules.

You can't just ignore these rules by making a system that executes contracts automatically. The judge will simply order you to make the other party whole. Then, if the law allows it, he might hit you with a massive fine for breaking the rules.

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Re:A hacker stole $31M of Ether – how it happened, and what ... by learc83 on Friday July 21, 2017 @04:28AM (#14818954)
That's what I meant when I said courts might chose to ignore the disclaimer.

It is possible you could eventually be able to sign something making the smart contract a form of binding arbitration.

But you're correct, courts law enforcement isn't going to let you enter into illegal contracts just because it's a smart contract.

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