Simple Contracts are Better Contracts: the Meltdown of the DAO
How many of the TheDAO Curator members are lawyers?<p>Contracts are agreements that are meant to be legally enforceable.  The enforcer has always been the King, a local governmental authority and a third party.  The very concept of a contract assumes the neutral third party.  That third party is to interpret the contract, identify potential scoundrels, nullify illegal contracts and generally make sure everyone isn't playing games.  Smart contracts seek to sidestep that ancient structure by replacing the neutral third party with an inflexible machine.  Good luck with that.<p>Contract language is also meant as a manifestation of intent.  Smart contracts seek a perfect manifestation, dismissing all notions of imperfect knowledge or misunderstanding.  Typos rarely matter in real contracts.  Intent can trump language where appropriate.  But in smart contracts typos are everything.  Good luck with that too.