From: IN%"tcmay@got.net" 13-MAY-1996 17:56:08.53 What others have said in regards to implicit contracts is about what I would have, with the addition that the inclusion of some third party should occur to handle the cases when the contract (explicit or implicit) doesn't cover something. Such a third party would preferably be an arbitration agency chosen by the other parties to the contract, but can be a government if they didn't chose one or the agency isn't available for some reason.

(But contracts are of course possible. Enforcement of the terms is another matter. By the way, I think enforcement of such contracts should be handled outside the normal legal system, and paid for by the parties using the system.)

One organization that I would like to see develop is one specializing in the enforcement of extralegal/illegal contracts. Payments to a legal form of such an organization should be tax-deductible, just as payments to private security guards should be tax-deductible; you're doing the government's work for it, so you shouldn't have to pay the government for it. Cryptography can be used to reduce the necessity for such in many cases, or at least reduce the work involved - which should reduce the fees that such an organization should need to pay. One aspect of this is digital receipts; I need to take a look at Applied Cryptography to check out the discussion there on them. Anyplace else I should look? -Allen