A smart contract is a translation of a standard paper-based contract that can be enforced and executed by a contract management system. At a high level of abstraction, a contract is only a document that describes how the signing parties are to behave in different scenarios; nevertheless, the translation of a typical paper-based contract to its electronic counterpart has proved to be both time-consuming and difficult. The requirement for a language capable of capturing the core of a contract in simple phrases and definitions has been a focus of study for many years. EROP (Events, Rights, Obligations, Prohibitions) is a contract specification language that breaks a contract down into sets of events, rights, obligations, and prohibitions.

翻译：智能合约是将标准纸质合约转化为可由合同管理系统强制执行和执行的电子版本。在高抽象层次上，合约仅是一份描述签约方在不同场景下如何行为的文档；然而，将典型纸质合约转化为电子版本已被证明既耗时又困难。多年来，研究重点一直集中于开发一种能够用简单短语和定义捕捉合约核心的语言。EROP（事件、权利、义务、禁止）是一种合约规范语言，它将合约分解为事件、权利、义务和禁止等若干集合。