Abstract

The present study aims to explain the legal foundations and principles of reviewing the terms of self-executing digital contracts and its comparative study in Iranian and German law. The main question of the research is what principles and rules in Iranian and German law can be the basis for reviewing the terms of self-executing digital contracts and what differences and similarities these two legal systems have in this regard. In this regard, this study, using a descriptive-analytical method and a comparative approach, has examined legal sources, legal regulations, and views of legal doctrine in the two legal systems. The findings of the research show that in Iranian law, the revision of the terms of self-executing digital contracts can be analyzed mainly based on the general principles of contract law such as the rule of will, good faith, contractual balance, prohibition of abuse, and the need to comply with mandatory laws, while in German law, in addition to the principle of freedom of contracts, more explicit rules such as the principle of good faith in Article 242 of the German Civil Code, the theory of disruption of the basis of the transaction in Article 313, and the system of control of general contract terms in Articles 305 to 310 of this law provide a more coherent framework for amending and modifying contract terms. The results of the research show that although both legal systems provide the possibility of revising the terms of digital contracts through the general principles of contract law, German law has a greater capacity to manage the challenges arising from self-executing digital contracts due to its more explicit legal rules and a more extensive system of control of contract terms.