ARC 02
The Shape of a Statute
If law is computable, a statute is a data structure. We trace how definitions, cross-references and provisos compose into something you can actually evaluate.
- Definitions as a Type SystemA statute's definition clause is its type system — declared once, enforced everywhere.
- Cross-References and the Call GraphSection 12(3) read with Section 4 is a function call. Statutes have a call graph.
- The Proviso as an Exception Handler“Provided that…” is a try/except. The general rule runs until the proviso catches it.