Law Commission puts smart contract project on hold

March 14, 2019

The Law Commission has announced that it has paused work on investigation smart contracts that it was undertaking alongside work on electronic signatures. They had been asked to take on the project by the Lord Chancellor as part of their 13th Programme, agreed in December 2017.  

They prioritised work on Electronic Signatures, and are currently analysing responses to a consultation on that issue, but were due to follow that with a call for evidence on smart contracts in January 2019 and a symposium in March 2019. 

However over this period the LawTech Delivery Panel was created and in view of the common ground between the proposed Law Commission work and that of the Delivery Panel, the Commission has decided to pause their work until the conclusions of the Panel are known.