Legal code: are smart contracts a universal solution to improve transactions?

Smart contracts have emerged as a popular topic of discussion in legal technology circles and beyond over the past few years. The increase in coverage of the topic has brought with it the proliferation of potential practical applications, to the extent that there are headlines suggesting contracts can be progressed faster and ‘middle men’ removed. Some perceive these to be a panacea to inefficient processes. This dissertation aims to pare back the discussion to firstly examine the evolution of smart contracts to date, before moving on to review the advantages and challenges presented by individual elements of the smart contracting process. It will also draw on key concepts presented by relational contract theorists and extract from these the characteristics of a smart contract. Taking all of these elements together, this dissertation will propose where smart contracts can be of greatest use and show that the headlines promoting this technology have been overinflated