Entitlements,
From assertion to fulfilment
Rights Chain does not ask whether the fact exists; it asks whether the claim holds up: who asserts it, to whom, on what basis, and whether it still counts.
Definition
What counts as an entitlement
Not every record can enter Rights Chain. First ask whether it is an entitlement.
Unpacked, these are four necessary conditions; drop one and it does not hold.
| Condition | Question | If missing |
|---|---|---|
| Claimant | Who is asserting it | Becomes an objective statement; goes to the attestation chain |
| Addressee | To whom it is asserted (inter partes / erga omnes) | Becomes a wish, unenforceable |
| Content | What can be done, what is obtained (must be decidable) | “A good experience” is not an entitlement; “7-day no-reason return” is |
| Evidence | On what basis (signature, document, data, prior record) | Cannot be proved, so as good as absent |
Plus two attributes: Term (when it starts, when it ends, whether it renews) and Strength (erga omnes / inter partes / moral only). The four conditions decide “whether it is”; the two attributes decide “how strong, and until when”.
Dimensions
Three dimensions, mutually orthogonal — do not conflate them
Time, strength and certainty are three independent axes; every entitlement sits on all three at once.
ITime
- Immediate effect
- Conditional trigger
- Continuous validity
IIStrength
- Erga omnes｜Exclusive licence, treated as property
- Inter partes｜Ordinary licence, contractual claim
- Moral｜Attribution, no distortion
IIICertainty
- Determined
- Conditional
- Pending adjudication
One table, three cells — which is why a single notion of “entitlement” cannot be applied to every scenario.
Not
What It Is Not
Drawing the boundary clearly matters more than describing the features.
Three Faces
Three definitions, three faces of one thing
Licence, promise, expectation Δ — three ways of asking, all pointing at the same claim.
Licence = exercise face
Whether it can be used, and by whom.
Promise = performance face
What is owed to me, and when it is due.
Expectation Δ = validity face
Whether this claim actually holds up.
| Question answered | Attestation chain (Proof Chain) | Entitlement chain (Rights Chain) |
|---|---|---|
| Core question | Did it exist? | Who should own it, who may be granted it, and whether it still counts |
| What is written | Hashes, timestamps, evidence anchors | The claim, its four conditions, term, strength, certainty |
| How it changes | Append-only | Append-only; state may evolve (e.g. SUPERSEDED), history is never erased |
| Disputes | Not handled | Not handled — left to external proceedings; the chain records only external conclusions |
| Output | Proof of existence | Entitlement package: claim + proof chain + current state |
So there is no need to wonder which category Rights Chain governs — what it governs is the full arc of a claim, from assertion to fulfilment. The attestation chain proves “it existed”; the entitlement chain proves “who should own it, who may be granted it, and whether it still counts”.
Lifecycle
The life of an entitlement on-chain
Five stages from assertion to closure; at every stage the chain records and verifies, it does not judge.
Assertion
All four conditions met, written on-chain: who, to whom, what is claimed, on what basis.
Proof
Evidence anchored: signatures, documents, data, prior records — forming a traceable proof chain.
Contestation
Counterparty acknowledgement (ACK) or entry into the challenge window; without service, it does not stand.
Determination
The chain does not determine. The only termination path is to record an external resolution (RecordExternalResolution).
Fulfilment / Lapse
The term expires, conditions are met, or an external adjudication terminates it; state evolves, history is never deleted.
Test
An actionable test
Any record seeking entry to Rights Chain must first pass these three questions.
Who can assert it?
No identifiable person → not an entitlement
To whom is it asserted?
No identifiable addressee → not an entitlement
What is the proof?
No identifiable evidence → not an entitlement
Pass all three, then fill in the detail with the four conditions (whether the content is decidable, what the term and strength are) — only then does an entitlement stand.
Invariants
The executable version, defined in code
The eight invariants are self-declared by the chain code at runtime; sign in to the console to inspect them one by one.
No adjudication write interfaceNo adjudication
The only termination path is RecordExternalResolution; the contract has no method that sets VALID / INVALID, and the state enum contains neither value.
“No objection” is not “valid”No adjudication
For UNCONTESTED, only a non-objection certificate (NON_OBJECTION_CERTIFICATE) may be issued; it must not be construed as rights confirmation having been established.
Concurrent entitlements are not rankedNo adjudication
Entitlements coexisting over the same subject each stand on their own; the valid-licence list returns every valid entry, with no priority field.
No service, no standingNo self-assessment
Closing the challenge window requires the counterparty to have ACKed; an entitlement claim must name its addressee — a “completed run” without the other side’s response is void.
No retroactive change of expectationsNo self-assessment
Once the trial begins, changes to the locked pre-registration are refused; rules can only be changed by creating a new version, with the old one marked SUPERSEDED.
No metric substitutionNo self-assessment
A determination rule requires the metric to be declared in metrics_schema, with consistent units — the yardstick cannot be changed after the fact.
The fact chain is read-onlyNo overreach
Forward writes only, never retroactive edits; external facts are held as opaque pointers, and the contract holds no write credential for the attestation chain.
No state change without a valid signatureNo overreach
Every write method goes through openEnvelope: time window + on-chain public-key binding + Ed25519 signature verification + nonce deduplication.