[dustingetz]

Consider finance options contracts. It's math, there aren't ambiguities, "that's not a bug, it's a feature". Also consider that if lawyering was not an available tool in software contracts, there would still be a game theoretic equilibrium, just a different one, but markets would still function. Before contract law there were other coordinating forces, such as royalty and religion, and things worked out well enough. http://home.uchicago.edu/~rmyerson/research/stratofc.pdf

[chii]

> such as royalty and religion

That's because they had the power to go to war to enforce their contracts. Etherium holders do not have such power, so ultimately, relies on the country's laws to enforce the smart contract.

[dustingetz]

Game theory is the more fundamental thing that power ultimately derives from. From the paper I linked:

"Focal arbitration power is power to redefine property rights, which of course may be profitable for the focal arbitrator himself. But a society's generally understood rules for recognizing leaders can impose constraints what a leader must do if he wants to retain his generally recognized position of authority."