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Comment by Chris2048 | Hacker News Reader

Chris2048

> participants can generally see the spirit and intent, and at worst go to a judge who will usually enforce the intent

Stuff like patent-trolling (and patents) suggest to me the law isn't so consistently trustworthy as you suggest.

I don't think that is the same - There is no claim that rules of written law always gives the most favourable outcome. But rather that the written law (or contract, in this case) allows for the reality of human error or omission by leaving space for human interpretation, enforcing the underlying intent, rather than strictly enforcing 'bugs' in the contract.

After all, there are almost always small mistakes in complex systems. The system of case law is, essentially, a structured way of turning differing interpretations into a stricter framework over time.

There are no bugs, there is just the contract, and the intent, and the difference between the two.

My point is, the institution of law needs to be trusted, yet patent-trolling exists because the institution has failed to apply fair judgment and common sense such that ridiculous legal structures have prevailed.

A bug is the difference between the intent and the produced document.

I disagree. While the use of the word 'bug' is often stretched (i.e. feature requests being made in the issue tracker), the contracts in this case are not purely the product of a writer - they are also a contract, as in a written, explicit agreement. Calling an unintended consequence a bug may be true from the perceptive of the writer, but not necessarily from the perspective of the second-party, who may have agreed to the written contract, but not the "intent". Hence a document with two parties does not have objective bugs in that sense, unless both parties agree, which is not the case in disputes requiring a judge.

I agree with your analysis there.

But my point was the patent trolling exists because the law is unfavourable. Not because there is a system of mediation in place. If the patent system should be abolished or not doesn't really relate to how inconsistencies in contracts are handled, as far as I can see?

My own skepticism isn't so much stemming from any belief that the current legal systems are particularly great as it is from the learned reflex to be wary of anyone rewriting a system from scratch.

The legal system is complex and messy sometimes because moneyed interests have been keeping a thumb on the scales and sometimes because the world is complex and millions of people have spent hundreds of years patching bugs and extending the code to handle all the weird corner cases.

Smart contracts are a neat idea, but it is also kind of like the guy who wants to rewrite the production system in a weekend.

smart contracts are still a good idea, separate from implementation concerns.

I also consider the strictness, and lack of third-party mediation a "pro", not a "con".

Patent law is not contract law.

Are they not overseen by judges and lawyers also?

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