Strict rules: corpus forms

Breakdown of real fragments: package identifier, human act name, form rating (exemplary / debatable / wrong form choice) and why.

OverviewBoundariesCorpus formsPitfalls

Law

1. Civil Code of Kazakhstan — strict rule with header parameters (exemplary)

Package kz.corpus.civilcode (Civil Code of Kazakhstan), natural persons:

Arxo Law

rule CitizenForeignCitizenOrStatelessPersonIsNaturalPerson(person: Person) strict {
    when person_is_kazakhstan_citizen_foreign_citizen_or_stateless(person);
    then person_recognised_as_natural_person_under_civil_code(person);
}

Exemplary: qualification without exceptions — strict strength; the variable is bound by a header parameter, the body is a single literal. Same chapter: a strict rule with two when clauses, the second a negative literal not code_exception_to_chapter_two_person_provisions(person): the body is a conjunction, not an “exception” — strict has no exceptions.

2. Civil Code of Kazakhstan, liquidation — defeasible norm next to strict ones (exemplary)

Package kz.corpus.civilcode (Civil Code of Kazakhstan), liquidation and bankruptcy:

Arxo Law

rule InsufficientPropertyDistributedProRataWithinQueue(demand: CreditorDemand) defeasible { ...; when liquidated_entity_property_insufficient_for_queue(demand);

Exemplary as a strength choice: the article text contains “unless otherwise provided by statute” — a norm with a proviso is written defeasible, not strict hoping nobody raises the proviso. The criterion from the strict-rules page: exceptions possible in principle — therefore not strict.

3. Administrative Offences Code of Kazakhstan — strict rule as a prohibition without priority (exemplary)

Strict opposite support defeats a defeasible candidate on its own: prohibiting trade in prohibited goods needs no priority over the permission. Exemplary: declaring priority over a strict rule is forbidden (LDC-E4105), and the corpus contains no such edges.

International law

4. Geneva Convention III of 1949 — defeater as a neighbour of the strict form (exemplary)

Package intl.ihl.geneva_1949 (Geneva Convention III of 1949, prisoners of war), status:

Arxo Law

rule TribunalDeterminationEndsPendingStatus(person: Person) defeater {
    label en official "Article 5 III: once a competent tribunal has determined the status, it is no longer pending";
    when tribunal_denied_pow_status(person);
    defeat status_pending_determination(person);
}

Exemplary as a form choice: the tribunal removes the interim status, asserting nothing in return — a defeater, not a strict negative head. After defeat the answer is Not established, not refuted, not Refuted: the case stays open for a subsequent determination of status.

Standards and science

5. Corpus measurement: 87 % of rules are strict

48 094 rule … strict in 487 packages; defeasible — 6 707 in 278; defeater — 478 in 75. Conclusion for the author: strict strength is the corpus default by frequency, but not by meaning: the mass is explained by qualifications and structural consequences (the typical pair — a strict definition with a guard and a defeasible norm above it). Taking strict “because everyone writes it that way” without checking for exceptions is debatable.

5a. Remaining rule forms

then duty { … } and other norm heads — 3 023 in 234 packages (a duty as a rule inference); then not p(x) — 2 515 in 271 (a refusal-norm: explicit negative support); a comparison in the body — 5 518 in 293 (a threshold, term, or amount — a guard on numbers); unless in a rule — 584 in 77 (an exception inside the block); effective in a rule — 1 402 in 56 (an effect window by law date); scope in a rule — 15 in 2 (a context condition; almost never used).

Teaching packages

6. This section’s examples (runs green)

Package research.rule_strict.strict_guard — a strict rule with a numeric guard: check OK, law test 2/2 (Established / Not established, not refuted). Package research.rule_strict.strict_conflict — two strict rules with opposite heads: check OK, law test 2/2 (Contradiction / Established). The pair fixes the strict-beats-defeasible boundary in executable form.