A Legal-Relationship Establishment in Smart Contracts: Ontological Semantics for Programming-Language Development

Vimal Dwivedi; Alex Norta

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-81462-5_58

A Legal-Relationship Establishment in Smart Contracts: Ontological Semantics for Programming-Language Development

Vimal Dwivedi, Alex Norta

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

Machine-readable smart contracts (SC) on blockchains promise drastic enhancements in collaboration efficiency and effectiveness in that cost- and time reductions can be achieved while the quality of services increases. We address existing shortcomings of SCs that are in tendency incomplete for legal recognition especially to smart-contract-enabled funding rounds, not collaborative business-process reflective and are also not aware of their own processing state to justify the claim of smartness. When conflicts occur, tracing the past performance of conventional contract (CC) execution is very slow and expensive while in addition, CCs are challenging to enforce. On the one hand, the legal status of SCs based funding rounds is currently not clarified and the question arises if SCs comprise the necessary legal- concepts and properties. Current SC solutions do not suffice in those regards. To fill this gap, we develop the smart-legal-contract (SCL) ontology to define the legal- and collaborative business concepts and properties in the SCs. Formal methods, such as Colored Petri Nets (CPNs), are suitable to design, develop and analyze processing state of SCs in order to trace the performance of contractual-rights and obligations. In this work, SCL ontology is formalized using Colored Petri Nets resulting in a verifiable CPN model. Furthermore, we conduct a state-space analysis on the resulting CPN model and derive specific model properties. A running case from the automotive supply chain domain demonstrates the utility and validity of our approach.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Advances in Computing and Data Sciences
Editors	Mayank Singh, Vipin Tyagi, P. K. Gupta, Jan Flusser, Tuncer Ören, V. R. Sonawane
Publisher	Springer, Cham.
Pages	660-676
ISBN (Electronic)	9783030814625
ISBN (Print)	9783030814618
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81462-5_58
Publication status	Published - 23 Oct 2021
Externally published	Yes
Event	5th International Conference on Advances in Computing and Data Sciences - Nashik, India Duration: 23 Apr 2021 → 24 Apr 2021 https://www.icacds.com/icacds2021/#:~:text=About%20the%20event,24%2C%202021%20in%20virtual%20mode.

Publication series

Name	Communications in Computer and Information Science
Publisher	Springer
ISSN (Print)	1865-0929
ISSN (Electronic)	1865-0937

Conference

Conference	5th International Conference on Advances in Computing and Data Sciences
Abbreviated title	ICACDS 2021
Country/Territory	India
City	Nashik
Period	23/04/21 → 24/04/21
Internet address	https://www.icacds.com/icacds2021/#:~:text=About%20the%20event,24%2C%202021%20in%20virtual%20mode.

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-030-81462-5_58

Cite this

Dwivedi, V., & Norta, A. (2021). A Legal-Relationship Establishment in Smart Contracts: Ontological Semantics for Programming-Language Development. In M. Singh, V. Tyagi, P. K. Gupta, J. Flusser, T. Ören, & V. R. Sonawane (Eds.), Advances in Computing and Data Sciences (pp. 660-676). (Communications in Computer and Information Science). Springer, Cham.. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81462-5_58

Dwivedi, Vimal ; Norta, Alex. / A Legal-Relationship Establishment in Smart Contracts: Ontological Semantics for Programming-Language Development. Advances in Computing and Data Sciences. editor / Mayank Singh ; Vipin Tyagi ; P. K. Gupta ; Jan Flusser ; Tuncer Ören ; V. R. Sonawane. Springer, Cham., 2021. pp. 660-676 (Communications in Computer and Information Science).

@inproceedings{7c7691bb34c94cee9310fef8db012065,

title = "A Legal-Relationship Establishment in Smart Contracts: Ontological Semantics for Programming-Language Development",

abstract = "Machine-readable smart contracts (SC) on blockchains promise drastic enhancements in collaboration efficiency and effectiveness in that cost- and time reductions can be achieved while the quality of services increases. We address existing shortcomings of SCs that are in tendency incomplete for legal recognition especially to smart-contract-enabled funding rounds, not collaborative business-process reflective and are also not aware of their own processing state to justify the claim of smartness. When conflicts occur, tracing the past performance of conventional contract (CC) execution is very slow and expensive while in addition, CCs are challenging to enforce. On the one hand, the legal status of SCs based funding rounds is currently not clarified and the question arises if SCs comprise the necessary legal- concepts and properties. Current SC solutions do not suffice in those regards. To fill this gap, we develop the smart-legal-contract (SCL) ontology to define the legal- and collaborative business concepts and properties in the SCs. Formal methods, such as Colored Petri Nets (CPNs), are suitable to design, develop and analyze processing state of SCs in order to trace the performance of contractual-rights and obligations. In this work, SCL ontology is formalized using Colored Petri Nets resulting in a verifiable CPN model. Furthermore, we conduct a state-space analysis on the resulting CPN model and derive specific model properties. A running case from the automotive supply chain domain demonstrates the utility and validity of our approach.",

author = "Vimal Dwivedi and Alex Norta",

year = "2021",

month = oct,

day = "23",

doi = "10.1007/978-3-030-81462-5_58",

language = "English",

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pages = "660--676",

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booktitle = "Advances in Computing and Data Sciences",

note = "5th International Conference on Advances in Computing and Data Sciences, ICACDS 2021 ; Conference date: 23-04-2021 Through 24-04-2021",

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Dwivedi, V & Norta, A 2021, A Legal-Relationship Establishment in Smart Contracts: Ontological Semantics for Programming-Language Development. in M Singh, V Tyagi, PK Gupta, J Flusser, T Ören & VR Sonawane (eds), Advances in Computing and Data Sciences. Communications in Computer and Information Science, Springer, Cham., pp. 660-676, 5th International Conference on Advances in Computing and Data Sciences, Nashik, India, 23/04/21. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81462-5_58

A Legal-Relationship Establishment in Smart Contracts: Ontological Semantics for Programming-Language Development. / Dwivedi, Vimal; Norta, Alex.
Advances in Computing and Data Sciences. ed. / Mayank Singh; Vipin Tyagi; P. K. Gupta; Jan Flusser; Tuncer Ören; V. R. Sonawane. Springer, Cham., 2021. p. 660-676 (Communications in Computer and Information Science).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

TY - GEN

T1 - A Legal-Relationship Establishment in Smart Contracts: Ontological Semantics for Programming-Language Development

AU - Dwivedi, Vimal

AU - Norta, Alex

PY - 2021/10/23

Y1 - 2021/10/23

N2 - Machine-readable smart contracts (SC) on blockchains promise drastic enhancements in collaboration efficiency and effectiveness in that cost- and time reductions can be achieved while the quality of services increases. We address existing shortcomings of SCs that are in tendency incomplete for legal recognition especially to smart-contract-enabled funding rounds, not collaborative business-process reflective and are also not aware of their own processing state to justify the claim of smartness. When conflicts occur, tracing the past performance of conventional contract (CC) execution is very slow and expensive while in addition, CCs are challenging to enforce. On the one hand, the legal status of SCs based funding rounds is currently not clarified and the question arises if SCs comprise the necessary legal- concepts and properties. Current SC solutions do not suffice in those regards. To fill this gap, we develop the smart-legal-contract (SCL) ontology to define the legal- and collaborative business concepts and properties in the SCs. Formal methods, such as Colored Petri Nets (CPNs), are suitable to design, develop and analyze processing state of SCs in order to trace the performance of contractual-rights and obligations. In this work, SCL ontology is formalized using Colored Petri Nets resulting in a verifiable CPN model. Furthermore, we conduct a state-space analysis on the resulting CPN model and derive specific model properties. A running case from the automotive supply chain domain demonstrates the utility and validity of our approach.

AB - Machine-readable smart contracts (SC) on blockchains promise drastic enhancements in collaboration efficiency and effectiveness in that cost- and time reductions can be achieved while the quality of services increases. We address existing shortcomings of SCs that are in tendency incomplete for legal recognition especially to smart-contract-enabled funding rounds, not collaborative business-process reflective and are also not aware of their own processing state to justify the claim of smartness. When conflicts occur, tracing the past performance of conventional contract (CC) execution is very slow and expensive while in addition, CCs are challenging to enforce. On the one hand, the legal status of SCs based funding rounds is currently not clarified and the question arises if SCs comprise the necessary legal- concepts and properties. Current SC solutions do not suffice in those regards. To fill this gap, we develop the smart-legal-contract (SCL) ontology to define the legal- and collaborative business concepts and properties in the SCs. Formal methods, such as Colored Petri Nets (CPNs), are suitable to design, develop and analyze processing state of SCs in order to trace the performance of contractual-rights and obligations. In this work, SCL ontology is formalized using Colored Petri Nets resulting in a verifiable CPN model. Furthermore, we conduct a state-space analysis on the resulting CPN model and derive specific model properties. A running case from the automotive supply chain domain demonstrates the utility and validity of our approach.

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DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-81462-5_58

M3 - Conference contribution

SN - 9783030814618

T3 - Communications in Computer and Information Science

SP - 660

EP - 676

BT - Advances in Computing and Data Sciences

A2 - Singh, Mayank

A2 - Tyagi, Vipin

A2 - Gupta, P. K.

A2 - Flusser, Jan

A2 - Ören, Tuncer

A2 - Sonawane, V. R.

PB - Springer, Cham.

T2 - 5th International Conference on Advances in Computing and Data Sciences

Y2 - 23 April 2021 through 24 April 2021

ER -

Dwivedi V, Norta A. A Legal-Relationship Establishment in Smart Contracts: Ontological Semantics for Programming-Language Development. In Singh M, Tyagi V, Gupta PK, Flusser J, Ören T, Sonawane VR, editors, Advances in Computing and Data Sciences. Springer, Cham. 2021. p. 660-676. (Communications in Computer and Information Science). doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-81462-5_58

A Legal-Relationship Establishment in Smart Contracts: Ontological Semantics for Programming-Language Development

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