On the other hand, significance attaches to the possibility he (i.e. the potential truster) possesses of exercising influence (at a cost to be taken into account) upon the fate of his partner. In fact, such potential influence may be taken into account in the partner’s calculation of his gains and losses, and to this extent this set of considerations carries most weight. Through his future influence the truster can sanction a breach of trust; he can also, when such a possibility is to be envisaged, reckon on his partner also reckoning with it, while he ponders a breach of trust, and thereby being restrained. Legal arrangements which lend special assurance to particular expectations, and make them sanctionable, are an indispensable basis for any long-term considerations of this nature; thus, they lessen the risk of conferring trust.

Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, loc. 172