PROOF OF LAW"

Proposal 1.0

MAY 24, 2016

DIALEXICA, LLC
www.proofoflaw.com

Problem Version History

Date
20160524

Version
1.0

Author(s)
Regina Mullen

Social Media
@ProofOfLaw
#ProofOfLaw
proofoflaw@protonmail.com
www.proofoflaw.com

Problem Addressed
In the network community, in particular with respect to
the growing global blockchain-based ecosystem, there is
an implicit reliance upon the existence of law. Some laws
are imposed, such as those recognized by "choice of law
provisions in contracts or distributed applications. Some are
derived by consensus, such as those implemented by

distributed autonomous organizations. Still others are implicit

as norms or behavior that are written into code. The
question of how to prove validity of those laws is what the
"Proof of Law" concept is designed to address. In other
words, "How do we validate the rules under which we
operate even in a trustless networked society?" In one
sense, proving law is a mundane thing: a lawyer or judge
references books, superiors, colleagues and online
resources constantly. They validate through precedent or
command structure. However, how does this work in a world
of bitcoin, blockchains, sidechains and distributed ledgers?
The growing interest in an Internet of Things (IoT) and
Virtual Reality (VR) makes human computer interaction
even more important. What are the rules? Should there be
rules? How do we assign rules to new situations? How can
those rules be validated by new comer? Are they even

capable of validation (e.g. in the case of ephemeral

rules)? These are issues across communication modalities.
In DAO (decentralized autonomous organizations),
these rules may be codified in the form of smart contracts,
but they may also exist in the architecture of physical
networks, the rules under which individuals are bound under
nation-state systems, religious law and in unpublished rules
set by common experience.

Defining Law, simply

Law is much debated by a lawyers whose training
consists of learning to create, modify and often delete
provisions. Since lawyers differ on what law truly is, well
define it here any imposed or consensual framework
created or utilized to control or guide the activities of a
group or an organization, whether stated or implicit.

Many people believe that law is only that which is

created in statutes or within a court system. But, growing
evidence support the idea that law is social media. That
means that law exists outside of the realm of the work of
lawyers and is deeply connected to the ways in which
human beings interact. No one has a monopoly on
interpretation any more than they have a monopoly on
how individual humans or networks of machines interpret
the ecosystem established by the various types of laws that
exist.
The question of validity of those laws is what the Proof
of Law concept is designed to address. Validity is a
constitutional concept and accesses the fundamental
purpose for existence of any network, trust or trustless: that is,
why do we make agreements,
how are we bound,
why do we agree to be bound,

 do we affirm consequences for a refusal to be

bound?

Solution For Consideration

The proposal here is for development of a diverse multicultural, multi-national multi-lateral set of principles,
algorithms and implementations to create trust in computer
systems designed to replace real-world legal rights,
boundaries, limitations and obligations to address the
questions of WhichHowWhenWhyby Whom and
Where? with respect to validation of law in
human/computer and computer/computer interactions.
Are these separate from laws for humans,--and if so: why
and how?
Envisioned is a network of vetted smart contracts,
triggered by use of legal oracles or other processes used
by autonomous systems, but its very early days yet. One

expectation is that much can be learned from supply and

network security and other professionals who work at scale,
who regularly need to ask how do we know we *should*
trust Input X?

Possible Applications
1. Virtual Community. Sam wants to join a new virtual
community, but she doesnt accept a community rule
as valid. How does she know?
2. Human World. Keshia wants to sign a contract for
working in Tanzania, but she is unsure of whether the
legal rules codified in contract provisions are likely to be
upheld in the event of breach.
3. Computer World. A wants to implement a smart
contract found in a smart contract library. How does it
know whether the smart contract follows codified

outcomes by which it (and its related humans) can

abide?

Prior Artists?
This is an idea Ive been playing with for a while, trying
to imagine how I might contribute value to the blockchain
ecosystem as an attorney/arbitrator. However good I
imagine this idea to be, it is entirely possible that someone
has already been walking on this path: I need your help to
make the path more visible, so please let me know if there
are already resource and people working on this
substantively: perhaps we can collaborate, merge and/or
compete in the world of ideas leading to some truly useful
products and services!!

You are hereby invited to the conversation!