"You can think of the court system as exception handling for real-world contracts, and that's a dangerous thing to give up."
I was going to agree with you, but then I realized you can actually devise a contract with the equivalent of a "mediation" clause built-in. In fact, this is exactly what a multisig escrow Bitcoin contract is. If the buyer and seller agree that the transaction was successful they can finalize the contract, otherwise they have to go to the mediator who sides with one of the parties.
However, you still have to be very careful constructing the contract, as well as securing your private keys (from theft and loss).
I was going to agree with you, but then I realized you can actually devise a contract with the equivalent of a "mediation" clause built-in. In fact, this is exactly what a multisig escrow Bitcoin contract is. If the buyer and seller agree that the transaction was successful they can finalize the contract, otherwise they have to go to the mediator who sides with one of the parties.
However, you still have to be very careful constructing the contract, as well as securing your private keys (from theft and loss).