Smart contracts (SCs) are software systems that monitor and control the execution of legal contracts to ensure compliance with the contracts' terms and conditions. They often exploit Internet-of-Things technologies to support their monitoring functions, and blockchain technology to ensure the integrity of their data. Ethereum and business blockchain platforms, such as Hyperledger Fabric, are popular choices for SC development. However, there is a gap in the knowledge of SCs between developers and legal experts. Symboleo is a formal specification language for legal contracts that was introduced to address this issue. Symboleo specifications directly encode legal concepts such as parties, obligations, and powers. In this paper, we propose a tool-supported method for translating Symboleo specifications into smart contracts. We have extended the current Symboleo IDE, implemented the ontology and semantics of Symboleo into a reusable library, and developed the Symboleo2SC tool to generate Hyperledger Fabric code exploiting this library. Symboleo2SC was evaluated with three sample contracts. The results shows that legal contract specifications in Symboleo can be fully converted to SCs for monitoring purposes. Moreover, Symboleo2SC helps simplify the SC development process, saves development effort, and helps reduce risks of coding errors.

Symboleo2SC: From Legal Contract Specifications to Smart Contracts / Rasti, A.; Amyot, D.; Parvizimosaed, A.; Roveri, M.; Logrippo, L.; Anda, A. A.; Mylopoulos, J.. - (2022), pp. 300-310. (Intervento presentato al convegno 25th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, MODELS 2022 tenutosi a Montreal Quebec Canada nel 23 - 28 October, 2022) [10.1145/3550355.3552407].

Symboleo2SC: From Legal Contract Specifications to Smart Contracts

Roveri M.;Mylopoulos J.
2022-01-01

Abstract

Smart contracts (SCs) are software systems that monitor and control the execution of legal contracts to ensure compliance with the contracts' terms and conditions. They often exploit Internet-of-Things technologies to support their monitoring functions, and blockchain technology to ensure the integrity of their data. Ethereum and business blockchain platforms, such as Hyperledger Fabric, are popular choices for SC development. However, there is a gap in the knowledge of SCs between developers and legal experts. Symboleo is a formal specification language for legal contracts that was introduced to address this issue. Symboleo specifications directly encode legal concepts such as parties, obligations, and powers. In this paper, we propose a tool-supported method for translating Symboleo specifications into smart contracts. We have extended the current Symboleo IDE, implemented the ontology and semantics of Symboleo into a reusable library, and developed the Symboleo2SC tool to generate Hyperledger Fabric code exploiting this library. Symboleo2SC was evaluated with three sample contracts. The results shows that legal contract specifications in Symboleo can be fully converted to SCs for monitoring purposes. Moreover, Symboleo2SC helps simplify the SC development process, saves development effort, and helps reduce risks of coding errors.
2022
Proceedings - 25th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, MODELS 2022
USA
Association for Computing Machinery, Inc
9781450394666
Rasti, A.; Amyot, D.; Parvizimosaed, A.; Roveri, M.; Logrippo, L.; Anda, A. A.; Mylopoulos, J.
Symboleo2SC: From Legal Contract Specifications to Smart Contracts / Rasti, A.; Amyot, D.; Parvizimosaed, A.; Roveri, M.; Logrippo, L.; Anda, A. A.; Mylopoulos, J.. - (2022), pp. 300-310. (Intervento presentato al convegno 25th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, MODELS 2022 tenutosi a Montreal Quebec Canada nel 23 - 28 October, 2022) [10.1145/3550355.3552407].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11572/364852
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