# Time: boundaries What the construct does NOT do: limits, reserved values, neighbouring constructs and the selection rule. ## Does not do - **Not read the system clock.** No axis is taken from the machine clock: the case sets `decision_time`, `knowledge_time`, `legal_time` and `timezone` explicitly, the scenario test — one per scenario. "Today" in a case is a date, not a call. - **Not add dates to magnitudes.** `Date + Quantity` does not exist: a period is only a period step, a duration only a duration measurement. `N months` / `N years` are `Quantity` with a unit, not added to a date. - **Not measure months and years.** `days_between` is calendar days (`Integer`, sign by argument order); hours and minutes — `hours_between`/`minutes_between` over `Instant`. Months and years are built by the period step, not measured. - **Not cover what time does not formalize.** Closure also carries a window: outside the window it produces no negative — a repealed registry does not prove "no licence". - **Not execute time `@id`.** Dates have no separate identity: identity belongs to editions and events; time is a value. ## Reserved and closed - `during`, `overlaps`, `before`, `after` — RESERVED predicates (`LDC-E2102`). - `Duration`, `CalendarPeriod`, `BusinessPeriod` — types without a constructor: a value comes only from measurement or a period step. - `Date` without a timezone policy in an event — fatal `TEMPORAL_RESOLUTION_POLICY_MISSING`, not silent UTC: the zone choice changes event order and window hits. - Event `time` precision is a microsecond: rounding to a second is forbidden; fractions of a second tell events and identity apart (`EVENT_ID_CONFLICT`). ## Neighbours and the selection rule - `effective` vs target `window`: norm applicability vs performance period. See the selection table in `README.md`. - `effective` vs edition anchor: the rule's own date vs the act's date. - `days_between` vs period step: measure a duration vs build a period (months/years). - `Date` vs `Instant`: civil date vs offset instant; comparisons stay within kind. - Fact-date comparison vs `governs`: case surface (corpus) vs JSON transport of the axis.