LDC-E1353 — Bad evaluation mode

What it means

A case context names the evaluation mode the computation runs in — advisory, compliance, regulatory, simulation, or audit. The mode is a single choice from a closed list: it steers how the engine treats the result, so an unknown or repeated mode cannot stand. The compiler stops at the axis rather than computing under an assumption policy nobody declared.

The repair is to name one mode from the list. The default holds when the axis is absent; when it is present, it must say exactly one thing.

Example

run

{"argv": ["lower-case", "$ROOT/case.law"], "files": {"case.law": "language \"law.core\" version \"0.2\";\npackage demo.diagnostics version \"0.1.0\";\nnamespace \"urn:law:demo:diagnostics\";\n\nentity A;\n\ncase Solo {\n    context {\n        legal_time @2026-08-26;\n        mode bogus;\n    }\n}\n"}, "expect": "LDC-E1353"}

Fix

run

{"argv": ["lower-case", "$ROOT/case.law"], "files": {"case.law": "language \"law.core\" version \"0.2\";\npackage demo.diagnostics version \"0.1.0\";\nnamespace \"urn:law:demo:diagnostics\";\n\nentity A;\n\ncase Solo {\n    context {\n        legal_time @2026-08-26;\n        mode advisory;\n    }\n}\n"}, "expect": null}

Engine message

The engine reports this in its own wording:

Output

$ROOT/case.law:10:9: error LDC-E1353: mode axis §168.2: value is a §171 evaluation mode from the list advisory, compliance, regulatory, simulation, audit

Related

• LDC-E1332 — a policy axis in an unresolvable shape.
• Time — the legal time a case runs at.