The vision behind the EOS Constitution

Daniel Larimer, the man who is always ahead of time in terms of blockchain innovation and one of the few developers who have deep understanding of blockchain, is also the one with a vision.

Dan, as he is called by his community peers, likes to describe himself as “the man with the mission” and he brings both, his mission and his vision, to his new project - EOS.

EOS is not like other blockchains. EOS is one of its kind because it is not only governed but also reinforced by the Constitution.

While most of the people concentrate on the technical aspects of EOS, they underestimate the importance of the Constitution which plays the main role in this kind of blockchain. Without this document, EOS would not be what it is and its power to change the world would not be as big.

Larimer has got some sound view of life, liberty, property, justice and non-violence and, through EOS Constitution, he projects them to all the community.

Dan is known for being a libertarian but he clearly questions his ideology when it comes to property rights and affirms that they are not absolute nor permanent part of nature. They can be maintained only when there is a balance between parties involved in the negotiation.

As soon as one party becomes too strong or too weak, the weight of the power shifts in one direction and the disputes arise.

The crypto sphere is plagued by criminals stealing users funds and practising aggression on the crypto community members.

Users feel the need to protect their property by applying always more security measures and they are scared of their own actions when interacting with their funds. A hacker could be anywhere.

Transparency and strong identity are the solution to violent actions and their fruits and disempowering aggressors of their arms is the way he approaches them in his EOS project.

Despite all the benefits blockchain brought to the accounting system, Larimer believes that code is not law because it lacks the ability to adapt thus is subject to “extinction in the darwinian marketplace”.

By increasing privacy, people empower criminals and governments in executing violence. People are deluded by privacy as a means to protect themselves from regulations, taxes and sanctions but these walled gardens are nothing else than a paradise for hackers and governments.

Allowing people to hide behind privacy leads to a dangerous paradigm where no one is free.

Dan’s choice of using transparency as a non-violent mean of self-policing is his recipe for true liberty.

The transparency provided by public identity tied to reputation and a social network of relationships which secure the accounts eliminate the need for government control and end attacks on someone's property.

With its public register of transactions, blockchain technology has already bootstrapped the revolution and EOS enforces it with strong identities.

Though transparency aims at providing security and liberty it is not the solution of all blockchain’s sins like a software upgrade or inability to correct itself, therefore, Larimer proposes governance. But even governance is not enough as people might develop different opinions and apply different values on some topics. After all, human nature is so complicated.

That is why governance needs a set of rules to outline boundaries of acceptable law/code. The conditions set a priori and agreed by both parties should be part of a constitution and Larimer thinks that stipulating such a document is necessary in order to have a properly working blockchain without the risk of splitting the community.

Without a constitution, the community is more easily split due to ambiguity while with a constitution that is robust the community has a process to resolve disputes and remain in consensus.

There are some things that cannot be defined and enforced by code and this is the point where humans need to decide.

The objective of the clearly described guidelines is to let everybody know where they stand and what is the philosophy of the community they chose to be part of.

If someone is contrary to these conditions then he will be probably a victim or a cause of disputes and subsequent removal from the on chain activities may take place.

EOS is the first blockchain featuring a constitution which defines obligations among the users.

This binding agreement signed automatically by the first broadcasted transaction defines not only obligations but also the intent of the source code protocol as well as facilitates dispute resolution by establishing jurisdiction and choice of law along with other mutually accepted rules.

EOS Constitution

EOS Constitution is a multi-party contract entered into by the Members by virtue of their use of this blockchain.

Article I - No Initiation of Violence
Members shall not initiate violence or the threat of violence against another Member. Lawful prosecution of crimes with the goal of preserving life, liberty and property does not constitute initiation of violence.

Article II - No Perjury
Members shall be liable for losses caused by false or misleading attestations and shall forfeit any profit gained thereby.

Article III - Rights
The Members grant the right of contract and of private property to each other, therefore no property shall change hands except with the consent of the owner, by a valid Arbitrator’s order, or via community referendum. This Constitution creates no positive rights for or between any Members.

Article IV - No Vote Buying
No Member shall offer nor accept anything of value in exchange for a vote of any type, nor shall any Member unduly influence the vote of another.

Article V - No Fiduciary
No Member nor EOS token holder shall have fiduciary responsibility to support the value of the EOS token. The Members do not authorize anyone to hold assets, borrow, nor contract on behalf of EOS token holders collectively. This blockchain has no owners, managers or fiduciaries; therefore, no Member shall have beneficial interest in more than 10% of the EOS token supply.

Article VI - Restitution
Each Member agrees that penalties for breach of contract may include, but are not limited to, fines, loss of account, and other restitution.

Article VII - Open Source
Each Member who makes available a smart contract on this blockchain shall be a Developer. Each Developer shall offer their smart contracts via a free and open source license, and each smart contract shall be documented with a Ricardian Contract stating the intent of all parties and naming the Arbitration Forum that will resolve disputes arising from that contract.

Article VIII - Language
Multi-lingual contracts must specify one prevailing language in case of dispute and the author of any translation shall be liable for losses due to their false, misleading, or ambiguous attested translations.

Article IX - Dispute Resolution
All disputes arising out of or in connection with this Constitution shall be finally settled under the Rules of Dispute Resolution of the EOS Core Arbitration Forum by one or more arbitrators appointed in accordance with the said Rules.

Article X - Choice of Law
Choice of law for disputes shall be, in order of precedence, this Constitution and the Maxims of Equity.

Article XI - Amending
This Constitution and its subordinate documents shall not be amended except by a vote of the token holders with no less than 15% vote participation among tokens and no fewer than 10% more Yes than No votes, sustained for 30 continuous days within a 120 day period.

Article XII - Publishing
Members may only publish information to the Blockchain that is within their right to publish. Furthermore, Members voluntarily consent for all Members to permanently and irrevocably retain a copy, analyze, and distribute all broadcast transactions and derivative information.

Article XIII - Informed Consent
All service providers who produce tools to facilitate the construction and signing of transactions on behalf of other Members shall present to said other Members the full Ricardian contract terms of this Constitution and other referenced contracts. Service providers shall be liable for losses resulting from failure to disclose the full Ricardian contract terms to users.

Article XIV - Severability
If any part of this Constitution is declared unenforceable or invalid, the remainder will continue to be valid and enforceable.

Article XV - Termination of Agreement
A Member is automatically released from all revocable obligations under this Constitution 3 years after the last transaction signed by that Member is incorporated into the blockchain. After 3 years of inactivity an account may be put up for auction and the proceeds distributed to all Members according to the system contract provisions then in effect for such redistribution.

Article XVI - Developer Liability
Members agree to hold software developers harmless for unintentional mistakes made in the expression of contractual intent, whether or not said mistakes were due to actual or perceived negligence.

Article XVII - Consideration
All rights and obligations under this Constitution are mutual and reciprocal and of equally significant value and cost to all parties.

Article XVIII - Acceptance
A contract is deemed accepted when a member signs a transaction which incorporates a TAPOS proof of a block whose implied state incorporates an ABI of said contract and said transaction is incorporated into the blockchain.

Article XIX - Counterparts
This Constitution may be executed in any number of counterparts, each of which when executed and delivered shall constitute a duplicate original, but all counterparts together shall constitute a single agreement.

Article XX - Interim Constitution
This constitution is interim and is intended to remain in effect until a permanent constitution is written and ratified in a referendum.