Smart Contracts and Legal Personality: Can Autonomous Code Bear Responsibility?
Keywords:
Smart Contracts, Legal Responsibility, Blockchain Regulation, Autonomous Systems, DAO Governance, Algorithmic Accountability, Legal Personhood, Decentralized TechnologyAbstract
Smart contracts have evolved from basic automated scripts into increasingly autonomous systems capable of executing, modifying, and enforcing digital transactions without continuous human oversight. Their integration into decentralized blockchain networks challenges foundational legal concepts related to intention, agency, liability, and control. As these systems operate across jurisdictions, interact with off-chain data sources, and manage significant economic value, they expose gaps in existing legal doctrines that were built around human actors and centralized organizational structures. This narrative review synthesizes technological, doctrinal, and regulatory perspectives to examine whether autonomous smart-contract code can meaningfully bear legal responsibility. It analyzes how the architecture of blockchain networks, the nature of deterministic and adaptive smart contracts, and the dynamics of decentralized ecosystems complicate responsibility attribution. It further evaluates the suitability of classical liability doctrines—contract, tort, agency, and vicarious liability—and compares emerging models for the treatment of non-human actors such as AI systems and algorithmic agents. Global regulatory approaches are reviewed, including EU digital governance frameworks, U.S. federal and state-level developments, and proactive initiatives in jurisdictions such as Singapore, Switzerland, and the UAE. Emerging governance models involving mandatory oversight, code registration, insurance-based liability, and DAO legislation are assessed in light of their capacity to address the accountability gap created by decentralized automation. The review concludes that while smart contracts themselves cannot meaningfully possess legal personality, legal systems must develop new mechanisms to allocate responsibility among the human and institutional actors who design, deploy, and benefit from their operation. This adaptation is essential for ensuring fairness, transparency, and trust in an increasingly automated digital environment.
References
Alfonso Delgado De Molina, R. (2022). Smart Contracts. 107-141. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192858467.003.0007
Baiesu, S., & Ludmila, B.-R. (2021). The Contract for the Benefit of a Third Person. Defining Aspects After the Modernization of the Civil Code of the Republic of Moldova. National Law Journal(1(243)), 133-141. https://doi.org/10.52388/1811-0770.2021.1(243).12
Berezina, E. A. (2021). Using a Smart Contract as a Legal Technology: National and Foreign Legislative Practice. The Rule-of-Law State Theory and Practice, 17(1(63)), 97-118. https://doi.org/10.33184/pravgos-2021.1.7
Bierć, A. (2019). Towards Normatively Limited Judicial Sanction [Structured Discretion] as a Proportional Response to the Defectiveness of Legal Action (Contract) in Modern Legal Transactions. Studia Prawnicze / the Legal Studies, 7-36. https://doi.org/10.37232/sp.2019.4.1
Cohney, S., & Hoffman, D. A. (2020). Transactional Scripts in Contract Stacks. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3523515
Cvetković, P. (2020). Liability in the Context of Blockchain-Smart Contract Nexus: Introductory Considerations. Zbornik Radova Pravnog Fakulteta Nis, 59(89), 83-100. https://doi.org/10.5937/zrpfn0-28637
Cvetković, P. (2021). Synthesis of the Legal Text and the Program Code: The Case of the Ricardian Contract. Zbornik Radova Pravnog Fakulteta Nis, 60(90), 61-76. https://doi.org/10.5937/zrpfn0-29556
Ene, C. (2020). Smart Contracts - The New Form of the Legal Agreements. Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, 14(1), 1206-1210. https://doi.org/10.2478/picbe-2020-0113
Golecki, M. J. (2021). The Limits of the Consensual Principle and the Structure of a Contract of Obligation in Italian Civil Law. Nieruchomości Kwartalnik Ministerstwa Sprawiedliwości, Specjalne(V), 295-309. https://doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0015.5837
Graaf, d. (2019). From Old to New: From Internet to Smart Contracts and From People to Smart Contracts. Computer Law & Security Review, 35(5), 105322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clsr.2019.04.005
Herian, R. (2022). Techno-Legal Supertoys. 246-268. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192858467.003.0012
Klepikova, O., Harahonych, O., & Antoshyna, I. (2021). Smart Contracts in the Context of Digitalization: The Legal Realities of World Experience. Cuestiones Políticas, 39(70), 844-861. https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.3970.51
Lisitsa, V., & Zainutdinova, E. (2022). Digital Rights and Their Use in a Smart Contract. Juridical Science and Practice, 18(1), 29-38. https://doi.org/10.25205/2542-0410-2022-18-1-29-38
Liu, Y., & Huang, J. (2019). Legal Creation of Smart Contracts and the Legal Effects. Journal of Physics Conference Series, 1345(4), 042033. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1345/4/042033
Ma, A. (2023). Blockchain-Enabled Smart Legal Contracts. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109041
Marchenko, V., & Dombrovska, A. (2021). On Determining the Legal Nature of Smart Contracts. 170. https://doi.org/10.2991/aebmr.k.210320.031
Michurin, I. (2023). Public Contract on the Internet and New Legislation on Digital Content. University Scientific Notes, 4-13. https://doi.org/10.37491/unz.95.1
Munawar, M. (2022). The Legality of Smart Contract in the Perspectives of Indonesian Law and Islamic Law. Al-Istinbath Jurnal Hukum Islam, 7(1), 269. https://doi.org/10.29240/jhi.v7i1.4140
Onufreiciuc, R., & Stănescu, L.-E. (2021). Regulation of the Smart Contract in (Romanian) Civil Law. European Journal of Law and Public Administration, 8(2), 95-111. https://doi.org/10.18662/eljpa/8.2/164
Ramos, S., & Mannan, M. (2022). Watch the Gap: Making Code More Intelligible to Users Without Sacrificing Decentralization? , 133-139. https://doi.org/10.1109/cbi54897.2022.10059
Rizos, E. (2022). A Contract Law Approach for the Treatment of Smart Contracts’ ‘Bugs’. European Review of Private Law/Revue Européenne De Droit Privé/Europäische Zeitschrift Für Privatrecht, 30(Issue 5), 775-802. https://doi.org/10.54648/erpl2022037
Safarli, N. (2019). Smart Contract: The Concept, Legal Nature, Features of Conclusion and Execution. Legal Concept(4), 54-60. https://doi.org/10.15688/lc.jvolsu.2019.4.7
Sinitsyn, S., Diakonova, M. O., & Chursina, T. (2021). Smart-Contracts in the Digital Economy: Contractual Regulation and Dispute Resolution. Digital Law Journal, 2(4), 40-50. https://doi.org/10.38044/2686-9136-2021-2-4-40-50
Sundell, V. (2023). Code Is Law: A Legal Justification of Irreversible Execution of Smart Contracts Through Consideration. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/z9gma
Varbanova, G. (2023). Legal Nature of Smart Contracts: Contract or Program Code? Journal of Digital Technologies and Law, 1(4), 1028-1041. https://doi.org/10.21202/jdtl.2023.44
Zenin, S., Kuteynikov, D. L., Izhaev, O., & Yapryntsev, I. M. (2020). Law Making in the Conditions of Algorithmization of Law. Lex Russica(7), 97-104. https://doi.org/10.17803/1729-5920.2020.164.7.097-104
Zykov, D. (2021). Blockchain and Other Technologies in the System of Traditional State and Legal Institutions. Legal Concept(3), 42-46. https://doi.org/10.15688/lc.jvolsu.2021.3.7
Downloads
Published
Submitted
Revised
Accepted
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
