Source Records
Source Records
Authority identity, scope, time, text, status, and provenance.
Structured Visual
Jurisdiction: US; as of 2026-08-28; not legal advice; Render structure, refuse interpretation, cite, abstain, and hand off.
RENDER STRUCTURE · REFUSE INTERPRETATION · CITE · ABSTAIN · HAND-OFF: render structure, refuse interpretation, cite provenance, abstain when unsupported, and hand off to human review.
Scope and honesty note
Jurisdiction: United States structural overview; as of 2026-08-28; jurisdictions vary; not legal advice. This lesson renders source and process structure, refuses interpretation, cites, abstains, and hands off.
See the essential structure first
Start with this deliberately incomplete structure, then use the pinned authorities, worked application, exceptions, and handoff below. This deliberately incomplete preview has 4 nodes; exceptions and legal consequences remain in the sourced prose below.
Jurisdiction: US; as of 2026-08-28; not legal advice; Render structure, refuse interpretation, cite, abstain, and hand off.
RENDER STRUCTURE · REFUSE INTERPRETATION · CITE · ABSTAIN · HAND-OFF: render structure, refuse interpretation, cite provenance, abstain when unsupported, and hand off to human review.
State the source method
Every authority needs an identity record before a researcher compares or applies it. Type, jurisdiction, issuer, citation, dates, status, exact text, and provenance are distinct fields because each answers a different validation question.
A jurisdictional source record
This pinned source supplies verbatim text and a reproducible source coordinate. Verbatim snapshot text: “The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States.” Source: 28 U.S.C. § 1331; https://www.neochart.com/catalog/federal/judiciary/title_28/chapter_85/section_1331/title28_sec1331_c56e38574c6b/1331_federal_question_the_district_courts_shall_have_origina_0001/index.html; data via neochart.com, snapshot 2026-08.
A definition source record
This pinned source supplies verbatim text and a reproducible source coordinate. Verbatim snapshot text: “the words "person" and "whoever" include corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies, as well as individuals;” Source: 1 U.S.C. § 1; https://www.neochart.com/catalog/federal/title_1/section_1/title1_sec1_5c2368db380d/1_words_denoting_number_gender_and_so_forth_in_determining_t_0001/index.html; data via neochart.com, snapshot 2026-08.
Pin the example data
The worked comparison uses two federal statutes with different functions. The federal-question record supplies a jurisdictional grant; the Dictionary Act record supplies a context-limited definition. For each, citation, issuer, jurisdiction, quoted text, snapshot date, URL, and fixture hash stay in separate scope fields.
Explain the artifact
The tree groups identity, scope, time, text, status, and provenance. A missing field becomes a research task or abstention signal. The artifact contains 7 structural nodes. Node count is a recomputed display fact, not authority weight.
Jurisdiction: US; as of 2026-08-28; not legal advice; Render structure, refuse interpretation, cite, abstain, and hand off.
RENDER STRUCTURE · REFUSE INTERPRETATION · CITE · ABSTAIN · HAND-OFF: render structure, refuse interpretation, cite provenance, abstain when unsupported, and hand off to human review.
Read the complete record
The complete record keeps sources, stated facts, and questions for review separate. Identity: Type, title, citation. Scope: Jurisdiction, court or issuer. Time: Decision, effective, and snapshot dates. Text: Verbatim bounded source text. Status: Update and treatment fields for review. Provenance: Fixture hash and public source URL.
Narrow summary
A source record is complete enough to inspect and verify, but it never decides whether the authority controls a problem.