Evidence / Rationale

Host binding and scope of support

Identifies the single claim, decision or assertion the record supports, the part of it in scope, and the effect of host revision. Evidence attaches to a specific claim, not to a document.

1. Which single claim, decision or assertion does this record support, and by which stable identifier in which master system? identity
2. Does the support apply to the whole host assertion or only to a named component, qualifier or numeric bound within it? composition
3. Can one evidence item support several claims by reference without being copied, and how is that many-to-many reuse represented? relationship
4. When the host assertion is revised or superseded, does the support record carry over, lapse, or require re-affirmation? lifecycle

Typed support relation

The declared relation each evidence item bears to the supported subject — supports, corroborates, is authority for, qualifies, disputes, refutes — drawn from a named vocabulary rather than free text.

1. Which governed vocabulary and version supplies the relation term, and what is its IRI? interoperability
2. Is the relation supportive, neutral/informative or contrary, and is that polarity asserted or derived from the vocabulary? classification
3. Who asserted that this item stands in this relation to the claim, as distinct from who created the item? provenance
4. Does the relation carry a weight or contribution, and on what scale is that weight expressed? measurement

Relevance to a fact of consequence

Records the relevancy analysis without treating relevance as an inherent property of the item and without confusing it with sufficiency of the whole body of evidence.

1. Does this item have any tendency to make the stated fact more or less probable than it would be without the item? evidence
2. Is the fact to which the item is directed of consequence in determining the host action or decision? evidence
3. Does probative value depend on a missing condition of fact, such as whether a statement was heard, that must be recorded as conditional relevance? constraint

Inference, warrant and argumentation scheme

The reasoning step deriving the claim from its premises under a specified context, expressed as a justification, together with the scheme or rule applied and its defeasibility.

1. What warrant licenses the step from these premises to this claim, stated so a reviewer can attack the step rather than the premises? definition
2. Which argumentation scheme or inference rule is applied, and from which catalogue and version is it drawn? classification
3. Is the inference deductive, inductive, abductive or statistical, and what conditions would defeat it without any premise being false? constraint
4. Is the reasoning machine-checkable, reviewer-checkable, or asserted only, and what evidence supports that classification? validation
5. If no evidence item is attached, on what basis other than evidence does the conclusion rest, and is that flagged to consumers? exception

Assumptions, context conditions and rejected alternatives

The explicit assumptions the argument depends on, the scope conditions bounding its validity, and the options considered and rejected with reasons — the part of rationale that explains why not something else.

1. Which assumptions must hold for this support to stand, and is each validated, accepted-without-validation or known-unverifiable? constraint
2. Under what context, population, environment or time window does the support hold, and where does it explicitly not apply? constraint
3. Which alternative claims, options or interpretations were considered and rejected, and on what stated ground was each rejected? decision
4. What observable change would invalidate an assumption, and who is accountable for monitoring it? process

Counter-evidence, defeaters and their resolution

Registration of evidence and arguments that rebut the claim, undercut the inference or undermine a premise, and the record of how each was adjudicated or left open.

1. What contrary or non-confirming evidence is known to exist, including evidence sought but not found? evidence
2. Does each challenge rebut the claim, undercut the inference, or undermine a premise? classification
3. Who adjudicated the conflict, under what authority and by what stated rule of preference? authority
4. What conflict remains unresolved, and is that residual disclosed to consumers of the claim? quality
5. How is selective inclusion of only confirming evidence detected and prevented for this record? validation

Evidence item identity

Assignment and precedence of identifiers for an evidence item, separation of the item from the record describing it, and content-digest identity for immutable items.

1. Which identifier is authoritative for this item: a master-system identifier, a governed global identifier or IRI, or a Dimension-assigned UUID/ULID? identity
2. Which identifier denotes the physical or digital item, and which denotes the record describing it? definition
3. Is the item immutable and therefore identifiable by content digest, or mutable and identifiable only by reference plus captured state? identity
4. When the item is revised, is a new identity minted or a version label appended, and how is the prior version reachable? lifecycle
5. How are duplicate submissions of the same underlying item detected and merged without losing distinct custody histories? validation

Evidence form and modality

Classification of the item by evidentiary form (documentary, testimonial, observational, computational, attestation, physical) and by medium and encoding, and whether it is an original or a copy.

1. Which evidentiary form does the item take, and from which governed taxonomy is that class drawn? classification
2. What media type, encoding and structural profile does the item use, and is it self-describing? interoperability
3. Is this the original, a forensic image, a derived rendering or a summary, and where is the original if not held? provenance
4. Does the form change the handling, integrity or admissibility obligations that apply to the item? requirement
5. Is the item a composite of separately addressable parts, and is each part independently identified and hashed? composition

Source anchor and locator

Identification of the source resource, the selector addressing the relevant part, and the state of the source at the time of reliance so the anchor survives later change.

1. Exactly which part of the source is relied on, expressed by which selector type and value? spatial
2. What was the state of the source when it was relied on, and how is that state re-obtainable? temporal
3. How is it detected that the source changed after anchoring, and what happens to the support when it has? validation
4. What is recorded when the item has no source anchor at all, such as a direct sensor reading or live testimony? exception
5. If the source becomes unavailable or paywalled, what preserved surrogate stands in and with what authority? access

Excerpt fidelity and transformation chain

Whether what is relied on is a verbatim quotation or a transformed derivative, which transformations were applied by which agent, and how the excerpt can be checked back against the source.

1. Is the relied-on text or data a verbatim quotation from the source, a translation, an OCR output, a redaction or a paraphrase? provenance
2. Which transformation steps were applied between the source and the excerpt, in what order, and by which agent or tool? process
3. How can a third party verify the excerpt against the source, and what is the outcome of the last such check? validation
4. In what language and script is the excerpt, and if translated, who translated it and is the original retained? quality
5. Does the excerpt preserve the qualifications, negations and scope present in the source, and who confirmed that? quality

Acquisition method and instrument

The method, tool, settings and operator used to obtain the item, and whether the process is one shown to produce an accurate result.

1. By which of identification, collection, acquisition or preservation was the item obtained, and what method was used? process
2. Which instrument or tool, at which version and configuration, produced the item? provenance
3. Who performed the acquisition, under what role and with what demonstrated competence? authority
4. Is the process one shown to produce an accurate result, and where is that showing recorded? validation
5. Where and under what conditions was the item acquired, to the precision the case requires? spatial

Chain of custody and handling

The custody record from the moment the item was acquired: who held it, when, what integrity check accompanied each transfer, and whether any gap exists. Custody is physical, logical and documentary.

1. What sequence of custody events exists from acquisition to now, and is any interval unaccounted for? temporal
2. Who held or controlled the item during each interval, and under what authority did control transfer? ownership
3. What integrity value or seal was recorded at each transfer, and did it verify on receipt? validation
4. Which custody modes apply — physical storage, logical seals and hashes, documentary access logs — and who maintains each? security
5. For how long after the evidence ceases to be needed must the custody record itself be preserved? retention

Derivation chain and primary source

The chain from the item back to its origin, distinguishing primary source produced by an agent with direct experience from quotation, revision and downstream derivation.

1. Which preceding entity, produced by an agent with direct experience of the matter, is the primary source of this item? provenance
2. What derivation, quotation and revision steps connect this item to that origin, and which activity generated each step? provenance
3. Is the item primary, secondary or tertiary relative to the claim, and by whose classification? classification
4. Does the lineage contain a cycle or converge on a single upstream origin shared with items counted as independent? validation
5. When the item was composed from other assets, is each ingredient's own provenance retained rather than flattened? composition

Attribution, responsibility and independence

Which agents bear responsibility for the item and for the assertion that it supports the claim, on whose behalf they acted, and whether they are independent of the outcome.

1. To which agent is the item attributed, and which agent asserted that it supports the claim? provenance
2. Did the agent act on behalf of another agent who retains responsibility, and is that delegation recorded? authority
3. Is the responsible agent a person, an organisation or a software agent, and does that change the weight given? classification
4. Is the agent independent of the outcome the claim supports, and what interests are declared? quality
5. Is the item self-reported by the party whose claim it supports, and is that flagged rather than silently equated with third-party evidence? quality

Separated time points and clock quality

Distinct recording of when the fact occurred, when it was observed, when it was ingested and when support was asserted, each in RFC 3339 with explicit offset, plus the clock source that produced them.

1. Which distinct time points are recorded — event, observation, ingestion, assertion, verification — and which are unknown? temporal
2. Does every time value carry seconds and an explicit numeric offset or Z, and is -00:00 used only where the local offset is genuinely unknown? constraint
3. What clock produced each timestamp, with what traceability and accuracy? measurement
4. How is a partially known time expressed without inventing precision, for example a known date but unknown time? exception
5. When two records disagree on ordering because their clocks differ, which ordering rule governs? validation

Validity window, staleness and supersession

The period over which the support is asserted to hold, the re-verification cadence, and how superseding evidence replaces it without erasing the prior state.

1. From when until when is this support asserted to hold, and is the end open or fixed? temporal
2. How often must the support be re-verified for its purpose, and when is the next re-verification due? process
3. At what point does the support count as stale, and what does a consumer see when it is? state
4. Which later support record supersedes this one, and is the superseded record retained and still resolvable? lifecycle
5. What invalidates the evidence item itself, as distinct from the support lapsing, and how is that recorded? event

Content digest and hard binding

What is hashed, under which algorithm and canonical form, and how the binding survives storage-format change. Digest identity applies only to items treated as immutable.

1. Which digest algorithms are recorded, and does the record permit more than one to support algorithm agility? security
2. Exactly what bytes or structure does the digest cover, and under what canonicalisation? constraint
3. Does a hard binding exist that ties the support record to this specific item rather than merely naming it? validation
4. What happens to the binding when the item is transcoded, re-encoded or migrated between stores? exception
5. For items that cannot be hashed, such as physical exhibits or live testimony, what stands in for content binding? exception

Signature and attestation

Who cryptographically asserted the record, under which securing mechanism, what the signature covers, and how signer trust and revocation are established.

1. Which agent signed, with which key or certificate, and how is that signer identity resolved to a known party? identity
2. Which securing mechanism is used, embedded or enveloping, and is more than one required? security
3. What exactly does the signature cover — the claim, the assertion set, the payload — and what is deliberately outside it? constraint
4. Against which trust list or policy is the signer accepted, and who curates that list? authority
5. How is revocation or expiry of the signing credential detected, and does it retroactively invalidate the record? lifecycle

Trusted timestamp and temporal proof

Third-party attestation that the evidence existed before a stated time, with the accuracy and policy under which it was issued, and the long-term validity strategy.

1. Is there a third-party timestamp proving the item existed before a stated time, and if not, why is a self-asserted time considered sufficient? evidence
2. Which authority issued the token, under which policy identifier, and what serial number does it carry? authority
3. What generation time and accuracy does the token assert, and is that precision adequate for the ordering the claim depends on? measurement
4. How does the record stay verifiable after signing credentials expire or algorithms weaken? lifecycle
5. What would distinguish a genuine token from a backdated one if the authority's key were compromised? security

Verification events and current status

Each verification is an event with an actor, method, time and outcome; the current status is derived from events, not asserted independently, and integrity verification is kept separate from truth of the claim.

1. When was the record last verified, by which agent, using which method and tool version? validation
2. What was the outcome of each verification step, and which specific step failed when the outcome was negative? evidence
3. Does the verification status assert only integrity and signer validity, and is it clearly not a statement that the claim is true? definition
4. For how long is a verification result relied on before it must be repeated? temporal
5. Can a party other than the issuer verify the record with only the exported package, and what does that require? interoperability

Reproducibility and method replay

For computed, analysed or derived evidence, whether the same result is obtainable by the same person with the same method (repeatability) and by a different person with a different setup (reproducibility).

1. Can an independent party re-derive this evidence, and has anyone actually done so with what result? validation
2. Which inputs, parameters, code versions and environment are recorded, and are they sufficient to re-run? process
3. Is the derivation deterministic, and if not, what is the expected variation and its source? quality
4. What prevents reproduction — licensed data, unavailable hardware, expired credentials, non-public source — and is that disclosed? exception
5. Is the record claiming repeatability, reproducibility, or neither, and on what basis? definition

Authentication foundation

The proponent must produce support sufficient to find that the item is what it is claimed to be, using one or more recognized methods such as witness knowledge, distinctive characteristics, public-record custody, or process-or-system accuracy.

1. What is the item claimed to be, and what would count as it being that thing? identity
2. Which authentication method or methods are offered, and are they examples under a governing rule or another statute-provided method? validation
3. Has authentication been distinguished from later bars such as hearsay, privilege or prejudice that can still exclude an authenticated item? constraint

Certainty grading against a declared scheme

The certainty or confidence level assigned, always paired with the identifier and version of the scheme that defines it, the domains that drove the rating and the grader.

1. Which grading scheme and version defines the level assigned, and what are its permitted values? classification
2. What certainty level is assigned, and which domains caused it to be rated down or up? measurement
3. Who performed the grading, when, and were they independent of the claim's proponent? provenance
4. Is certainty in the evidence kept distinct from the strength and direction of any recommendation or decision drawn from it? definition
5. Can this level be compared with a level from a different scheme, and on what authority is any such mapping made? interoperability

Bias, limitations and measurement reliability

Known biases, coverage limits, indirectness and quantified uncertainty attaching to the evidence, recorded so consumers see them without re-deriving them.

1. What biases are known or suspected in how this evidence was produced or selected? quality
2. What measurement error, interval or confidence attaches to any quantitative evidence, and in what units? measurement
3. What population, period, geography or system does the evidence actually cover, and where is it being applied beyond that? constraint
4. How are these limitations surfaced to a downstream consumer who reads only the claim? access
5. Which limitations are known to exist but are not quantified, and is that stated rather than omitted? exception

Quantitative statistic support

The numeric heart of scientific evidence: statistic type, quantity, unit, sample size, intervals, p values, model characteristics, and study or synthesis type.

1. What statistic type, quantity, unit of measure and sample size are reported for this evidence bit? measurement
2. What confidence intervals, p values, heterogeneity estimates and statistic-model characteristics qualify the quantity? measurement
3. From what study type, and if synthesized from what synthesis type, was the statistic obtained? classification

Sufficiency threshold and burden

The standard the support must meet for this decision, who set it, whether it is met, and what would be needed if not. Sufficiency is a property of the assembled support, not of any single item.

1. What standard must the support meet for this decision, and who set that standard? requirement
2. Is the standard met on the evidence currently assembled, and who determined that? decision
3. If it is not met, precisely what additional evidence or reasoning would close the gap? requirement
4. Which party bears the burden of producing support, and does that burden shift on any condition? authority
5. What happens operationally when a decision proceeds despite insufficient support, and how is that override recorded? exception

Corroboration and genuine independence

Whether multiple supporting items are independent or trace to one origin, and detection of double counting and circular citation that inflate apparent support.

1. How many distinct items support the claim, and how many remain after collapsing items that share an origin? measurement
2. Are the supporting items independent in origin, method and agent, and on what basis is independence asserted? validation
3. Does any supporting item ultimately cite the claim it is offered to support, or cite a sibling item as its own source? relationship
4. If support rests on a single item or agent, is that single-source dependency flagged to consumers? quality
5. Does convergence of independent items change the certainty level, and under which rule of the declared scheme? decision

Ownership, stewardship and approving authority

The accountable owner, the day-to-day steward, and the authority that approved the support as adequate, together with the mandate under which that approval was given.

1. Which party is accountable for this support record and able to demonstrate its compliance on demand? ownership
2. Who maintains the record day to day, and how does stewardship differ from ownership here? ownership
3. Which authority approved the support as adequate, under what mandate, and when? authority
4. May approval authority be delegated, to whom, and does the delegating party retain responsibility? authority
5. What happens to ownership when the owning party is dissolved, reorganised or leaves, and who is the fallback? lifecycle

Rights, licence and permitted use

The rights attaching to source material quoted or held as evidence, what reuse and redistribution are permitted, and the attribution obligations that travel with the excerpt.

1. Under what licence or legal basis is the source material held, quoted and stored? authority
2. May the evidence item or excerpt be redistributed outside the holding organisation, and to whom? access
3. What attribution must accompany the excerpt wherever it is displayed or exported? requirement
4. Does the material contain third-party rights or personal data that constrain use beyond the licence? privacy
5. Do any territorial, export-control or contractual restrictions limit where the evidence may be transferred? constraint

Access classification and redaction

Classification of the support record and its items, the distinction between disclosing existence and disclosing content, and the relationship between a redacted disclosure copy and the unredacted original.

1. What classification applies to the support record, and does it differ from that of individual evidence items? security
2. May the existence of the evidence be disclosed to a party who may not see its content, and to whom? access
3. Is legal privilege, commercial confidence or a statutory restriction claimed, by whom and on what basis? exception
4. How does a redacted disclosure copy relate to the original, and is the redaction itself recorded and reversible by authorised parties? privacy
5. Is personal data in the evidence limited to what is necessary for the evidential purpose, and who reviews that? privacy

Retention, legal hold and disposition

How long the support record and its items are kept, the floors and caps that apply, the effect of a legal hold, how erasure requests interact with evidential need, and what remains after disposal.

1. How long must this record be kept, and what is the legal or policy basis for that period? retention
2. Does a sectoral floor apply, such as a minimum log-retention period for high-risk systems, and does it exceed the general policy? requirement
3. Does storage limitation cap how long the material may be kept in identifiable form, and how is the conflict with the floor resolved? constraint
4. Is a legal hold in force, who placed it, and what does it suspend? exception
5. How is an erasure request handled when the material is needed for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims? privacy
6. After disposal, what remains — a tombstone, a hash, nothing — and how is disposal itself evidenced? provenance

Lifecycle states, correction and retraction

The permitted states of a support record and the transitions between them, with correction distinguished from retraction and history preserved rather than overwritten.

1. Which states may a support record occupy, and which transitions between them are permitted? state
2. Who may move the record to disputed, withdrawn or retracted, and does that differ from who may create it? authority
3. What distinguishes correcting a support record from retracting it, and which is recorded when the underlying evidence proves false? lifecycle
4. How are downstream consumers of the claim notified that its support was retracted or superseded? process
5. Is the change history append-only, and how is that immutability enforced and checked? security

Standards alignment and exchange packaging

Declared mappings from this model to external provenance, assurance-case, credential, attestation, citation and annotation models, and the self-contained package by which a support record moves between systems. Alignments are not conformance claims.

1. To which external models does this model declare a mapping, at which versions, and for which elements? interoperability
2. Is each mapping lossless in both directions, and what is lost in the direction that is not? interoperability
3. Is any conformance to an external standard claimed, and what evidence supports that claim as opposed to mere alignment? evidence
4. What does a self-contained export contain so that a receiving system can verify the record without access to the originating store? composition
5. On import, how are referential integrity, identifier collisions and unresolvable references handled? validation