Lawyers used sheepskin as anti-fraud device for hundreds of years

Re:Lawyers used sheepskin as anti-fraud device for hundreds ... by SamBam on Wednesday March 24, 2021 @10:54PM (#26576034)

If I give you $100, and we mark it on a stick, and then split it and give me the longer one, and then I throw away my half and split a new one that says you owe me $200, how do we resolve it when the halves come together and don't match? I say you made a new half-stick, and you say I did.

Both parties in a contract can have an incentive to lie.

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Re:Lawyers used sheepskin as anti-fraud device for hundreds ... by DistressedDrone on Thursday March 25, 2021 @01:08AM (#26576780)

I think in this case one of the recipients has a monopoly on violence and doesn't care how much money you think they owe you.

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Re:Lawyers used sheepskin as anti-fraud device for hundreds ... by Spivak on Thursday March 25, 2021 @12:13AM (#26576529)

You have to give both parties incentive to produce the original stick. So if they don’t match then you both lose.

I don’t think all contracts have an obvious both losing state though.

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