# LDC-E5308 — Timeless edition cannot carry lifecycle dates

## What it means

An edition is either placed in time or explicitly timeless. A timeless
edition claims no adoption, repeal, or suspension moment — that is the
point of the claim. When such an edition still carries lifecycle fields
such as an adoption date, the two claims contradict each other, and the
compiler refuses the edition until one of them goes: either date the
edition or drop the dates.

## Example

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

source TORAH { kind scripture; }
edition WLC of TORAH {
  language he; officiality official;
  applicability timeless;
  adopted @2026-01-01;
}
```

## Fix

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

source TORAH { kind scripture; }
edition WLC of TORAH {
  language he; officiality official;
  applicability timeless;
}
```

## Engine message

The engine reports this in its own wording:

```text
example.law:6:9: error LDC-E5308: edition "WLC": `applicability timeless` is incompatible with lifecycle (§31): do not set a fictitious adoption/repeal date
```

## Related

- [Sources](/constructs/sources/) — how editions of a source work are declared.
- [Time](/constructs/time/) — how editions live in time.