Law Format

Laws in RegelRecht are stored as YAML files conforming to the law schema. Each file represents one law at a specific point in time.

File Organization

corpus/regulation/nl/ ├── wet/ # Formal laws (wetten) │ ├── wet_op_de_zorgtoeslag/ │ │ └── 2025-01-01.yaml │ ├── participatiewet/ │ │ └── 2022-03-15.yaml │ └── burgerlijk_wetboek_boek_5/ │ └── 2024-01-01.yaml ├── ministeriele_regeling/ # Ministerial regulations │ └── regeling_standaardpremie/ │ ├── 2024-01-01.yaml │ └── 2025-01-01.yaml └── gemeentelijke_verordening/ # Municipal ordinances ├── amsterdam/ │ └── apv_erfgrens/ │ └── 2024-01-01.yaml └── diemen/ └── afstemmingsverordening_participatiewet/ └── 2015-01-01.yaml

Structure of a Law File

Header Metadata

$schema: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/.../refs/tags/schema-v0.5.2/schema/v0.5.2/schema.json $id: zorgtoeslagwet regulatory_layer: WET publication_date: '2025-01-01' valid_from: '2025-01-01' bwb_id: BWBR0018451 url: https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0018451/2025-01-01 name: Wet op de zorgtoeslag

Field	Required	Description
`$id`	Yes	Machine identifier (snake_case)
`regulatory_layer`	Yes	WET, AMVB, MINISTERIELE_REGELING, GEMEENTELIJKE_VERORDENING, etc.
`publication_date`	Yes	Official publication date (ISO 8601)
`valid_from`	No	Effective date
`bwb_id`	Conditional	Required for national laws (format: `BWBR` + 7 digits)
`gemeente_code`	Conditional	Required for municipal ordinances (format: `GM` + 4 digits)

Articles

Each article mirrors a real article in Dutch law:

articles: - number: '2' text: | 1. De verzekerde heeft aanspraak op een zorgtoeslag... 2. De hoogte van de zorgtoeslag is het verschil... url: https://wetten.overheid.nl/.../artikel/2 machine_readable: definitions: DREMPELINKOMEN: value: 2500000 # €25,000 in eurocent execution: parameters: - name: bsn type: string required: true input: - name: toetsingsinkomen type: amount source: regulation: algemene_wet_inkomensafhankelijke_regelingen output: toetsingsinkomen parameters: bsn: $bsn output: - name: hoogte_zorgtoeslag type: amount type_spec: unit: eurocent actions: - output: hoogte_zorgtoeslag value: operation: MAX values: - 0 - operation: SUBTRACT values: - $standaardpremie - $normpremie

Key Concepts

Definitions

Constants used in calculations:

definitions: norm_alleenstaande: value: 109171 # €1,091.71 in eurocent PERCENTAGE_LID_5: value: 100

Operations

Operations are the building blocks of law logic:

Category	Operations	Syntax
Arithmetic	`ADD`, `SUBTRACT`, `MULTIPLY`, `DIVIDE`	`values: [...]`
Aggregate	`MIN`, `MAX`	`values: [...]`
Comparison	`EQUALS`, `GREATER_THAN`, `LESS_THAN`, `GREATER_THAN_OR_EQUAL`, `LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL`	`subject:`, `value:`
Logical	`AND`, `OR`, `NOT`	`AND`/`OR`: `conditions: [...]`; `NOT`: `value:` (wraps a single operation)
Collection	`IN`, `LIST`	`IN`: `subject:` + `value:` or `values: [...]`; `LIST`: `items: [...]`
Conditional	`IF` (alias `SWITCH`)	`cases: [{when:, then:}]`, `default:`
Date	`AGE`, `DATE_ADD`, `DATE`, `DAY_OF_WEEK`	`AGE`: `date_of_birth:`, `reference_date:`; `DATE_ADD`: `date:` + `years:`/`months:`/`days:`; `DATE`: `year:`, `month:`, `day:`; `DAY_OF_WEEK`: `date:`

These 21 operations make up the schema. The engine also accepts the compat aliases NOT_EQUALS, IS_NULL, NOT_NULL, and NOT_IN for backward compatibility, but they are outside the schema, so prefer wrapping the positive operation in NOT. See RFC-004: Uniform Operation Syntax for the full specification.

Variable References

$variableName - reference inputs, outputs, definitions, or parameters
$referencedate.year - dot notation for property access
#output_name - internal reference (same law)

Cross-Law References

Laws reference outputs from other laws via source:

input: - name: toetsingsinkomen type: amount source: regulation: algemene_wet_inkomensafhankelijke_regelingen output: toetsingsinkomen parameters: bsn: $bsn

See RFC-007: Cross-Law Execution for details.

Open Terms and Delegation (IoC)

Higher laws declare open_terms that lower regulations implement:

# In the wet (higher law) open_terms: - id: standaardpremie type: amount required: true delegated_to: minister delegation_type: MINISTERIELE_REGELING legal_basis: artikel 4 Wet op de zorgtoeslag default: actions: - output: standaardpremie value: 211200 # In the ministerial regulation (lower law) implements: - law: zorgtoeslagwet article: '4' open_term: standaardpremie gelet_op: Gelet op artikel 4 van de Wet op de zorgtoeslag

The engine resolves implementations at runtime using lex superior / lex posterior rules.

See RFC-003: Inversion of Control for the full pattern.

Legal Character

Articles can declare what kind of legal product they produce:

execution: produces: legal_character: BESCHIKKING # Administrative decision decision_type: TOEKENNING # Grant

This enables the Awb procedure hooks (RFC-008).

Type Specifications

Fields can have detailed type information:

output: - name: hoogte_zorgtoeslag type: amount type_spec: unit: eurocent precision: 0

Corpus Contents

The corpus is still small and growing. At the time of writing it spans three regulatory layers:

Layer	Laws	Examples
WET	~15	Participatiewet, Zorgtoeslag, Zorgverzekeringswet, Awb, BW Boek 5
MINISTERIELE_REGELING	1	Regeling standaardpremie (2 versions)
GEMEENTELIJKE_VERORDENING	2	Amsterdam APV erfgrens, Diemen afstemmingsverordening

For the authoritative, current set, see corpus/regulation/ in the repository.

Next Steps

Testing - writing BDD scenarios for laws
Schema Reference - full schema specification
Engine - how the engine executes laws