In the treaty, the role of the court is restrictive, unlike the unlawful act, where its role is creative. In the treaty, the fundamental role of the Tribunal is to adopt a set of rules in the treaty to ensure that all elements of a binding contract are respected. The nature and content of the agreement between the parties is a matter of private agreement, provided, of course, that the agreement is not illegal or contrary to public policy. In the unauthorized act, duty and standard of care is created by the courts and is not a matter of a private good deal. The Bretton Woods rules, set out in the articles of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), provide for a fixed exchange rate system. The rules also aimed to promote an open system by requiring members to convert their respective currencies into other currencies and to make free trade. The main objective of the conference was to reach an agreement on the IMF. There was sufficient consensus that the conference could also reach agreement on the IRD. To do so, the conference had to be extended from July 19, 1944 to July 22. A duty of care may be limited (subject to the 1997 Abusive Contract Conditions Act) or extended by agreement, and contractual rights (but no obligations) may be transferred to other parties, unless the contract expressly prohibits it.

The agreement did not promote the discipline of the Federal Reserve or the U.S. government. The U.S. Federal Reserve expressed concern about a rise in the domestic unemployment rate due to the depreciation of the dollar. To undermine the efforts of the Smithsonian Agreement, the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates in order to pursue a pre-domestic policy objective of full national employment. With the Smithsonian agreement, member states expected the dollar to return to the United States, but lower interest rates within the United States have led the U.S. dollar to continue to flow to foreign central banks. The influx of dollars into foreign banks continued the process of monetizing the dollar abroad, beating the objectives of the Smithsonian agreement.