It did not require an oath-bound ratification on man's part. God spoke on behalf of Himself and man, thereby ratifying the covenant representatively. Mankind through Adam could break the specific terms of the Edenic covenant, and did, but there is no way that he can ever escape the general dominion covenant in history. Through Adam's breaking of this covenant in Eden, mankind now faces death. The gospel of Jesus Christ comes with the offer of life.
Men are to choose life.
This new covenant does not annul the original dominion impulse of the broken covenant. It reaffirms it in the Great Commission. Nations must be formally brought under the terms of the New Covenant. This emphasis on the socially transforming effects of the gospel makes the gospel of Matthew an important document in presenting the legal basis of an explicitly Christian social theory. The author was a Jew.