# Judgment channel: external judgment relation, REQUIRES_JUDGMENT, evaluative

**In one sentence:** these constructs answer "who decides
when the law named a criterion but only an organ knows the answer". The author takes them
when a norm's feature is evaluative ("proportionate", "excessive", "reasonable time"):
instead of an invented threshold, a judgment relation with an organ is declared, and
the engine awaits the answer and names the wait by name.

Evaluative criteria ("proportionate", "reasonable") are left to a named organ: the author declares a judgment relation with its authority, and the engine waits for the answer instead of inventing a threshold.

## 1. When to take it and when not to

| Instead | Selection rule |
|---|---|
| Judgment channel vs court fact | The answer not yet given, to be given by an organ — a judgment relation (`REQUIRES_JUDGMENT`, waiting). The answer already given and recorded — an ordinary case fact with `origin case_input` or `adjudicated` (three channels of the evaluative: judgment, court fact, reading). Unknown outcome ≠ absent fact |
| Judgment channel vs a reading group | The text is clear; what is unknown is the criterion's application result ("is this measure proportionate") — judgment. The text reads two ways — an interpretation with `disputed` status. The Turkish constitution records the choice right in a comment (see `corpus-forms.md`) |
| `origin adjudicated` vs `origin case_input` for the answer | An organ's answer is an assertion with `origin adjudicated`; without a `judgment` object it is accepted as an assertion of the relation. A party's allegation is `case_input`. Mix them up and you get either `JUDGMENT_AUTHORITY_MISMATCH` or a silent closure by another's evaluation |
| An open judge vs a dead rule | A query is named only if the answer CAN change the outcome: the rule live on the goal's substitution — no neighbour decided for certain. A neighbour refuted means the rule is dead, the answer is `COMPUTED` with no queries, whatever the judge says |
| One channel vs two judges | With several live branches the query lists every judge; the order is the canonical `order_requests`. Two relations are two queries, not one shared |

## 2. Minimal example

Package `research.judgment.open`: a measure applied to a person; whether it is proportionate
is for the court to decide.

```law
external judgment relation proportionate(m: Measure) {
    authority Court;
    label ru-KZ official "Мера соразмерна";
}
relation measure_applied(p: Person, m: Measure) kind empirical {
    label ru-KZ official "мера применена к лицу";
}
relation measure_upheld(m: Measure) kind institutional {
    label ru-KZ official "мера оставлена в силе";
}

rule UpholdProportionate(m: Measure, p: Person) strict {
    label ru-KZ official "Соразмерная мера оставляется в силе";
    when measure_applied(p, m) and proportionate(m);
    then measure_upheld(m);
}
```

Case 1: `measure_applied` only. Query:
`evaluate truth(measure_upheld(m))`. Case 2: plus the court's answer
`proportionate(m)` with `origin adjudicated`.

The engine's actual answer (installed `law`, semantics `law.core/0.2`):

```text
law test research.judgment.open: мир research.judgment.open
  ok   [research.judgment.open#authored] tests/01-open.lawtest / urn:query:research-judgment-01
  ok   [research.judgment.open#authored] tests/02-answered.lawtest / urn:query:research-judgment-02
итого: 2 проверено, 2 прошли, 0 не прошли, 0 не исполнены; код 0
```

`law engine check` — `check OK`, no warnings. Case 1 answers
`NEITHER` with `evaluation_status == REQUIRES_JUDGMENT` (the law computed and
silent FOR A REASON — a court named, not "not established"); case 2 is
`TRUE_ONLY`. Sensitivity: the judge's answer changes the outcome from `NEITHER` to
`TRUE_ONLY` (files `tests/01-open.lawtest`, `tests/02-answered.lawtest`) —
the example is not vacuous.

Nearest wrong outcome: the same case 1 in an earlier build answered `NEITHER` with
`COMPUTED` — silence indistinguishable from missing facts. The
channel exists precisely to tell these two silences apart.

Second package `research.judgment.power` — the same device in a `valid_when` carrier:
`valid_when (measure_fit(p))` reads a judgment relation; the power's
effect never materializes before the answer (a validity condition gives no support), but the document
explains the missing effect with a status, not with silence:

| Facts | Question | Answer | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| application + issuance act, no court | `permit_issued` | `NEITHER` + `REQUIRES_JUDGMENT` | `valid_when` unresolved, reason named |
| same + `measure_fit` from `adjudicated` | `permit_issued` | `TRUE_ONLY` | the validity condition held, effect created |

## 3. Example across domains

- **Law:** the Turkish Constitution (package `tr.constitution`, Türkiye) — four art. 13 judgment relations
  (see `corpus-forms.md`): the right's essence, letter and spirit, democratic
  order, proportionality — all with `authority Court`.
- **Standard/protocol:** EU Regulation 261/2004 (package `eu.transport.air_passenger_rights`, European Union) — `extraordinary_circumstances`:
  "extraordinary circumstances" wholly left to the organ's evaluation; the
  `carrier_exempt_from_compensation` head with no producer in the package — on purpose.
- **Custom/ethics:** the "Ochered" queue (package `usus.corpus.ochered`, customary practice) — `absence_adjudged_excessive`: the organ is the
  queue itself (`authority TheQueue`), next to a competing `disputed`-status
  `interpretation` reading: judgment vs reading in one file.
- **Criminal law/teaching case:** RK Criminal Code art. 102 (package `kz.corpus.criminal_code`, Kazakhstan):
  the court's answer on the art. 32 channel closes the corpus delicti; the
  `judgment_requests(0)` expectation records that no judges are open.
  `research.judgment.power` — the same scheme in miniature.

## 4. How the engine answers

Table — actual runs of this directory's examples (installed
`law`, semantics `law.core/0.2`):

| Facts | Question | Answer | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| measure applied, no court | `measure_upheld` | `NEITHER` / `REQUIRES_JUDGMENT` | a live conjunct is a judgment relation |
| measure applied + `adjudicated` answer | `measure_upheld` | `TRUE_ONLY` | the judge closed the conjunct |
| application + act, no court | `permit_issued` | `NEITHER` / `REQUIRES_JUDGMENT` | `valid_when` is a channel carrier |
| application + act + `adjudicated` answer | `permit_issued` | `TRUE_ONLY` | effect materialized |

- The result carries a typed `JudgmentRequest` in
  `results[].judgmentRequests`; the `why_not` root answers with the same status
  and the same query set as the same goal's `truth`.
- A channel carrier is ANY status formula the program computes: a rule body, `valid_when`, a goal condition,
  a defeater condition, a transition guard/`requires`, a derived predicate over
  them, duty activation (`PENDING` + a query in `positions`),
  a conditional priority, a constraint `require`.
- A formula's open judges: a literal open at `NEITHER`;
  status tests per the status-test table (`not_known(J)` at `NEITHER` gives no query); `and`/`or` by union of open members; the condition's form
  irrelevant.
- A dead formula gives no query: a false neighbour (a refuted literal,
  a false comparison, `false`), a `BOTH` conflict, a defeater win with no
  priority, an immunity-locked effect.
- An organ's answer without `judgment` is accepted as an assertion; with
  `judgment`, the organ (`JUDGMENT_AUTHORITY_MISMATCH`) and the form
  (`JUDGMENT_PAYLOAD_MISMATCH`) are checked; a rejected answer leaves
  `REQUIRES_JUDGMENT`.

### Documented outcomes (earlier scenarios)

The rows below record earlier scenario content (given/ask/expect) as
documented outcomes; no new example packages were created for them:

| Case (given) | Question (ask) | Expectations (expect) | Scenario |
|---|---|---|---|
| `licence_class(alpha, first)` with `origin case_input` | `truth(reliable(alpha))` | `NEITHER` + `REQUIRES_JUDGMENT` | "judge did not answer" |
| `contract_signed` + `penalty_notice` | `truth(penalty_imposed)` | `NEITHER` + `REQUIRES_JUDGMENT`, `not issue(POWER_INVALID_EXERCISE)` | "judge in valid_when" |
| same + `breach_material` with `origin adjudicated` | `truth(penalty_imposed)` | `TRUE_ONLY` + `COMPUTED` | "adjudicated assertion closes valid_when" |
| `contract_signed` + `penalty_notice` + `force_majeure` (no court answer) | `truth(penalty_imposed)` | `NEITHER` + `COMPUTED` | "immunity silences the judge" (a locking immunity also silences the query) |

## 5. Common mistakes

1. Expecting `FALSE_ONLY` instead of `NEITHER` — a silent judge does not mean "the condition
   is unmet": neither `ACTIVE` nor achievement follows from it
   (`pitfalls.md`, item 1).
2. A court answer filed as `case_input` instead of `adjudicated` — the channel never
   closes; or the reverse: another's evaluation filed as
   `adjudicated` (`pitfalls.md`, item 2).
3. A dead rule awaiting a judge — no: liveness reads before the query;
   a refuted neighbour kills the query (`pitfalls.md`, item 3).
4. A question without `kind: "literal"` is rejected `QUERY_INVALID` before
   computation, never answered `COMPUTED` (`pitfalls.md`, item 4).
5. An evaluative feature written as a number ("excessive = over 42 hours") instead of
   a channel — an invented threshold for an organ; or the reverse: the countable
   given to the judge (`pitfalls.md`, item 5).
6. `authority` as a person's name, not an institution: the identifier is checked by
   equality, needs no declaration, and a typo gives eternal
   waiting on the wrong organ (`pitfalls.md`, item 6).

## 6. References

- The evaluative takes three channels: judgment, court fact, reading.
- Sample: court-answer scenario tests in package `kz.corpus.criminal_code` (Kazakhstan, art. 102).
- The vocabulary-side syntax of the channel is the `external_judgment_item`
  production: `authority`, the optional `request_schema`, and labels
  — see [vocabulary](/constructs/vocabulary/); the wait-and-answer semantics
  (`REQUIRES_JUDGMENT`, `JudgmentRequest`, liveness) is here, above.

## 7. Grammar: excerpt from the grammar

The body production of a judgment relation (the parent
`external_judgment_relation` declares the header and binds the body;
vocabulary lives on [vocabulary](/constructs/vocabulary/)):

```ebnf
external_judgment_item  = "authority", identifier, ";"
                        | "request_schema", type_ref, ";"
                        | label_item ;
```

The body takes only the organ (`authority` is required; without it
`LDC-E0201`, see `pitfalls.md`, item 10), an optional request schema and
labels — checked word-for-word against the grammar.