Schema Reference

The law format is defined by a JSON Schema. All law YAML files in the corpus must conform to this schema.

Current Version

The current schema version is v0.5.2.

Schema URLs use immutable git tags to guarantee reproducibility. The format is:

The tag schema-vX.Y.Z is created when a schema version is released. Using tags instead of refs/heads/main ensures that the schema a law file references can never change underneath it. See RFC-013 for the rationale.

Version History

This table is the single source of truth for which schema version introduced which construct. RFCs that add a construct reference this table rather than asserting a version independently.

Multi-organization execution (RFC-009) reuses competent_authority (v0.2.0) and adds no schema construct of its own.

Validation

Validate law files against the schema:

Schema Structure

The schema defines:

• Top-level metadata: $id, $schema, name, regulatory_layer, publication_date, valid_from, url (required: regulatory_layer, publication_date, url, articles)
• Articles: an articles array; each article requires number, text, and url, and may carry a machine_readable section and references
• Machine-readable section: execution, plus open_terms, implements, definitions, hooks, overrides, untranslatables, competent_authority, enables, requires, endpoint
• Execution block: parameters, input, output, actions, produces
• Operations: each action operation carries an operation type plus its operands (values, subject/value, conditions, cases/default, date fields)
• Cross-references: source blocks on inputs, pointing to other regulations
• Open terms: open_terms and implements for delegation

See Law Format for a guided walkthrough.