The Legis-Intel Pakistan glossary.

Plain-language explanations of the project’s concepts and research labels. These are working definitions for using this website, not statutory definitions. New here? Start with the visitor guide →

Authority

The legal source or institutional power supporting a rule or decision. Follow the supporting provision rather than assuming that a linked document grants the power.

Canonical record

A stable identity used to distinguish an instrument or judgment from another. A source record, an edition and a report citation may identify different things.

Code as Law

The way software rules can constrain conduct. Legis-Intel Pakistan asks what legal authority supports those constraints and how they can be reviewed; software behaviour does not itself establish legal validity.

Commencement

When a provision begins to operate. An enactment date or year in a title does not necessarily establish commencement. Check the relevant instrument and notifications.

Current force

Whether a provision is legally operative at the relevant time. A stored text, search result or source link alone does not establish this.

Discovery lead

A record or candidate connection worth investigating. It is not proof that a court adopted a proposition or that two provisions are legally related.

Evidence gap

Information needed to assess a claim but not established in the held material. An empty result means coverage may be missing; it does not prove that no relevant law exists.

Held text / held edition

The particular text stored in this collection. It may differ from the edition considered by a court or the law currently in force.

Judicial Intelligence

Research connecting judgments, legal questions and provisions. The site separates discovery records from selected reviewed passages and their stated limits.

Jurisdiction

The legal territory or authority within which an institution or rule operates. A source-collection label is not, by itself, a determination of territorial applicability.

Law as Code

The wider programme of expressing selected legal knowledge and logic in structured, traceable and testable forms, with interpretation and human responsibility retained.

Legislation as Code

Applying structured representation to instruments, provisions, editions and legislative relationships. Complete executable legislation is a development objective here.

Legislative Intelligence

Examining legislation with its sources, institutional responsibilities, relationships and implementation context. Legis-Intel Pakistan provides tools for that research.

Machine-readable law

Legal text and metadata organised so software can retrieve and reuse them. Machine-readable does not mean machine-executable or legally verified.

MCP / Model Context Protocol

A protocol through which a compatible AI client can call external tools. The Legis-Intel Pakistan pilot retrieves held records and evidence with source references; it does not guarantee the client’s interpretation.

Pinpoint / passage anchor

A location identifying the particular passage supporting a claim. A link to the whole document is less precise than a link to the relevant text.

Provenance

The recorded origin and handling of information: where it came from, which edition is held and what checks were performed. A file hash establishes byte identity, not legal accuracy.

Provision

An identifiable part of an instrument, such as an article, section, rule or schedule. Draft headings and reading positions on the site are navigation aids and may need checking against the source.

Qanun Maps

The rule-mapping tool within Legis-Intel Pakistan. It connects selected rules, enabling authority and judicial interpretation to supporting passages and source editions.

Repeal and savings

Repeal removes or replaces a legal provision; savings may preserve specified effects, proceedings or rights. Read the actual language and relevant dates before drawing a conclusion.

Research proposition

A source-linked statement or question organised for investigation. The Rule workbench uses these to expose evidence and missing facts, not to determine legal outcomes.

Reviewed passage

A selected passage examined for a stated relationship. Read the scope and limits: this is not blanket verification of the judgment, every proposition or subsequent judicial treatment.

Rule mapping

A documented connection between a rule, authority, related provision or judicial interpretation, supported by identified passages. A candidate match is not automatically an established relationship.

Rules as Code

Expressing selected rules through conditions, exceptions, required facts and consequences. Legis-Intel Pakistan currently organises research propositions and evidence gaps; executable outcomes remain planned.

Source notice

A record explaining a source or availability issue where the legislation text is not provided. Do not treat the notice as the instrument itself.

Structured record / JSON

A downloadable data representation containing fields such as identifiers, text and provenance. It supports software reuse while retaining the record’s limitations.

Version / source snapshot

The edition or captured source associated with a record. Compare the version relevant to your question; a retrieval date does not prove legal currency.

Use these concepts in a research journey →