Rights Layer Specification

Use Cases

Status: Draft v0.1.0 — This section is informative.

Rights Layer claims that rights in very different domains share one underlying structure: a Right, held by a Subject, grounded in one or more Sources, and exercised through Actions whose per-Action Eligibilities are answered by verifiable Boolean Eligibility Responses issued from outside the layer. This section demonstrates that claim by expressing seven domains — public licensing, professional qualification, business licensing, private contract, property, corporate membership, and consumer services — with one and the same conceptual model, without any domain-specific subtype of Right.

Every page instantiates the same chain:

Source → Right → Action → Eligibility (0..n) → Eligibility Response (1:1) → Decision → Exercise → Exercise Event

What varies across domains is not the shape of the model:

A Right remains binary in existence; what can be done lives in its Actions (kinds live in Actions, not Rights).
Each Action carries zero or more Eligibilities, each stating exactly one requirement; the same Right imposes different requirements on different Actions.
Each Eligibility is answered — or left unanswered — by at most one Eligibility Response: a Boolean issued from outside the layer by an identifiable issuer, verifiable in authenticity and integrity. How the issuer evaluates the requirement is outside Rights Layer.
A Decision for an Action is established only when every one of its Eligibilities has exactly one verifiable Response and all Responses are true. One false, or one unanswered Eligibility, and no Decision exists.
Every Right references at least one Source; the domain’s system of record remains authoritative, and Rights Layer only references it.
Events form the append-only history that explains the present state.

Summary Across Domains

Domain	Subject	Object	Right grounded in (Source)	Example Actions	Example Eligibilities (one requirement each) and their Response issuers
Driving licence	Natural person	Vehicle class	Administrative act under road traffic law	`drive`	Licence within validity period (licence register / public safety commission); licence conditions such as corrective lenses satisfied (condition attestation issuer)
Healthcare	Physician (natural person)	Medical practice (category of activity)	Qualification: national physician licence	`examine`, `operate`	Licence in force (licensing authority); for `operate` additionally accredited facility (facility credentials committee) and specialty credential (certification body)
Construction	Construction business (organization)	Category of construction work	Administrative act: construction business licence	`contract-construction-work`, `build`	Licence class covers the work (licensing agency); building permission granted for the project (building permission office); site supervisor assigned (attestation issuer)
Insurance	Policyholder	Insurance policy	Contract (Agreement Reference)	`claim-benefit`	Insured event occurred (insurer’s claims department); premiums paid (insurer); claim filed within claim period (insurer’s claims department)
Real estate	Owner	Land parcel	Registration plus sale contract (or inheritance)	`use`, `sell`, `lease`, `build`	Registered ownership (land registry); for `build` additionally building permission granted for the project and zoning compliance (building permission office)
Shares	Shareholder	Share class	Registration in the shareholder register	`vote`, `receive-dividend`	Recorded as holder on the record date (the company as register keeper)
Subscription	Subscriber	Service	Contract / terms (Agreement Reference)	`use-service`, `cancel`	Subscription active; payment current (both answered by the provider)

Use Case Pages

Driving licence — the right to drive as a Right with a single Action whose Eligibilities are answered by external issuers.
Healthcare — a physician’s right of medical practice, showing different Eligibilities per Action.
Construction — a construction business licence, with per-project building permission answered by the building authority.
Insurance — a policyholder’s right under a contract, with a full claim exercise chain.
Real estate — land ownership with four Actions and per-Action Eligibilities.
Shares — shareholder rights grounded in a register entry, with a record-date Eligibility.
Subscription — a subscriber’s right to use a service, including a false Response and a Decision that is therefore not established.

Machine-Readable Examples

Each use case has a conforming JSON expression that validates against the JSON Schema:

All examples use urn:example: identifiers and are entirely fictitious. They illustrate the model; they do not describe any real person, organization, product, or system. See Terminology, Conceptual Model, and Data Model for the normative definitions.

This site is open source. Improve this page.