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INTERPRETATION_REQUIRED — The text can be read two ways and none is chosen

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# INTERPRETATION_REQUIRED — The text can be read two ways and none is chosen

## What it means

A package can carry competing readings of the same text, grouped so that
exactly one of them is in force for a case. The case chooses its reading;
until it does, every question resting on the disputed point stays open.
The engine reports the open choice instead of silently reasoning under
one reading while another is equally live.

This status is about an unmade choice, not a broken package. Picking a
reading settles every question that waits on it at once.

## When you see it

```law
language "law.core" version "0.2";
package demo.diagnostics version "0.1.0";
namespace "urn:law:demo:diagnostics";

entity Applicant;
relation second_vehicle(a: Applicant) kind empirical;
relation second_permit(a: Applicant) kind institutional;

interpretation Narrow {
    status reviewed;
    rule NarrowReading strict {
        for a: Applicant;
        when second_vehicle(a);
        then not second_permit(a);
    }
}

interpretation Broad {
    status reviewed;
    rule BroadReading strict {
        for a: Applicant;
        when second_vehicle(a);
        then second_permit(a);
    }
}

interpretation_group SecondVehicle {
    alternatives Narrow, Broad;
    selection exactly_one;
}
```

```lawtest
language "law.core" version "0.2";
package demo.diagnostics version "0.1.0";
namespace "urn:law:demo:diagnostics";

test "no reading chosen yet" {
    given {
        context { legal_time @2026-03-01; decision_time @2026-03-01T09:00:00Z; knowledge_time @2026-03-01T09:00:00Z; timezone "UTC"; }
        assert second_vehicle(entity_ref("urn:demo:diagnostics:ann")) { origin case_input; }
    }
    evaluate truth(second_permit(entity_ref("urn:demo:diagnostics:ann")));
    expect evaluation_status == INTERPRETATION_REQUIRED;
}
```

Two readings of the second-vehicle rule are live and exactly one may
apply, but this case selects neither. The permit question stays open.

## What to do

Choose the reading in the case and ask again. Which reading fits is a
legal decision about the case — the package lays out the alternatives but
does not pre-select one.

## Related

- [Testing a package](/language/testing-a-package/) — how scenarios pin outcomes.
- [COMPUTED](/diagnostics/COMPUTED/) — the healthy outcome once a reading is chosen.