Trusted diamond traders treat written contracts as mere accounting formalities
Evidence
In some instances, stones are traded not on the floor of the DDC but in private offices. In this case, a standard bill of sale is drawn up when the deal is concluded and before the buyer leaves with the stones. Frequently, however, it is sent by the seller after the buyer has left with the stone but before he has paid in full. Dealers explain that when they really trust the person they are trading with they do not, at the time of “contracting,” attach any real importance to this writing. Traditionally, the bill of sale has been viewed as a mere formality used primarily for accounting purposes. — Lisa Bernestein, Opting out of the Legal System, 66
Categorization
- XREF: Directly relevant to the reading purpose: this is the flip side of Bellodi’s problem in Sciascia — where the state needs a written record to prove a deal, high-trust network insiders can treat the writing as gesture because everyone in the network would enforce the oral deal anyway. The same writing that matters to an outsider is hollow to an insider. — connects to: Overt risk calculation in contracts can undercut the trust it formalizes; Trustworthiness enforced only by contract threats is not genuine trust