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Status: U Date: Sun, 19 May 2002 23:41:54 -0400 To: Digital Bearer Settlement List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "R. A. Hettinga" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Formal contract language Sender: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --- begin forwarded text Status: U From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Formal contract language To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Mon, 20 May 2002 02:02:01 +0000 (GMT) Reply-To: "DBS list-managers" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sender: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hi, Can you post the following to the DBS list? thanks, Nick I have designed a formal mini-language for accountants, auditors, lawyers, economists, financial engineers, and others interested in analzying or drafting contracts. The language has a formal semantics and thus will be readable by computers, too. The main purpose of this language is to, as unambiguously and completely and succinctly as possible, specify common contracts or contractual terms. These include financial terms, secured transactions, transfer of ownership, insurance, online services, and supply chain workflow. <http://szabo.best.vwh.net/contractlanguage.html> The following problems may be addressed by the language when interpreted by computer: * Accounting and auditing. Sophisticated contracts, including derivatives and combinations, can be specified in formal language. Then automated or manual accounting rules may be applied to convert transactions completed under the contract to audit trails and ledger entries. * Analyze formally specified contracts for flaws in logic, scheduling, and opportunities for parties to breach the contract. * Some kinds of contracts, especially financial and commodity contracts and their derivatives, can be converted into a decision or game tree that can be analyzed to determine risk, net present value, etc. Using this language is also a great way to explore the basic nature of contracts (what are the "elements" out of which a wide variety of useful contracts can be drafted?) and their composibility (what rules for composing these atoms rule out impossible contracts?) The language is also a great creative tool for thinking up and "sketching" new kinds of contracts. I welcome your participation. best regards, Nick Szabo --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]