New on SSRN: Ariadne's Thread, a measurement-theoretic method for legal openness. Read the paper
11 frameworks

Frameworks

First-class pages for the Institute's named models, laws and protocols. Each carries a version number, a changelog, a diagram, a worked example and its known limitations, because frameworks are versioned like code.

Pinned · v1.0

The Four Laws of System Design for Computational Law

A legal AI system must never overstate its confidence, must explain every output, must ground every legal proposition in validated authority, and must keep its reasoning components testable and versioned, with each law yielding to the laws above it.

Read the Four Laws
Precedence: the Zeroth Law prevails over all others
00
Zeroth LawNever present outputs with unwarranted confidence
01
First LawEvery result traces to inputs, reasoning and authorities
02
Second LawGround every proposition in validated knowledge-graph authority
03
Third LawReasoning components independently testable and version-controlled
The four laws in order of precedence: when two laws conflict, the higher one prevails.
Frameworkstable

The Proposition-Usability Model

A cited proposition is usable only when it is still valid, governs in the forum and procedural posture, helps the represented party, and has not already been rejected in the jurisdiction.

Verificationv1.0
Frameworkdraft

Grayness Score and Gray Area Radar

The Grayness Score is a composite, evidence-linked indicator of how far the legal system itself treats a question as contested, and the Gray Area Radar is the view that shows a lawyer which signals fired and where they came from.

Determinacyv0.1
Frameworkstable

Version Control for Law

Legal interpretation can be governed like a versioned codebase: enacted text is the protected main branch, opinions are signed commits, dissents are preserved branches, and overruling is a force push allowed only through logged, gated conditions.

Knowledge Engineeringv1.0
Frameworkstable

The Gibsonian Canons of Constitutional Interpretation

A closed, priority-ordered law of interpretation, enacted before any institution is given power to interpret, that binds every interpreter to the same method and requires a traceable record of each interpretation.

Knowledge Engineeringv1.1
Frameworkstable

Counter-Model Builder

An opposition system succeeds when it hands the court a complete, record-grounded replacement for the movant's proposed order, not a list of objections filed under the movant's headings.

Adversarialv1.0
Frameworkstable

Case Treatment Taxonomy

Each treatment of an earlier case by a later one is classified holding by holding, along three dimensions (scope, severity and mechanism), into one of four families, and when in doubt the classification over-flags rather than under-flags.

Verificationv1.0
Frameworkstable

The Twelve Bridges

A legal 'therefore' is established law only when it crosses one of twelve recognized doctrinal bridges from precedent to conclusion; a synthesis that crosses none is argument, and must be presented as argument.

Knowledge Engineeringv1.0
Frameworkstable

Posture Dispersion (Z)

Hold verified law fixed, vary only the judicial posture across a declared panel, subtract the instrument's own replicate noise, and the normalized dispersion that remains, Z, measures how open a procedural question is.

Determinacyv1.0
Frameworkstable

Posture Mismatch Taxonomy

A citation can be real, accurate, good law and on point and still be wrong, because the proposition it is offered for depends on a standard, record, burden or forum different from the motion's; element definitions and substantive rules usually carry across stages, sufficiency holdings do not.

Verificationv1.0
Frameworkstable

Pre-Filing Completeness Protocol

Research is complete enough to file when every element of every claim at issue has its governing standard, controlling authority, record support, adverse-authority check and rejected-argument check recorded, and every one of those cells ends in a citation or a logged search that found nothing.

Verificationv1.0