What This Article Explains

In the shift toward automated legal enforcement, one key transformation is often overlooked. Legal language is no longer just interpreted. It is compiled. This article introduces the concept of regla compilada (compiled rule) as a grammatical structure that enables legal norms to be executed by machines without human intervention. Using a case study of a synthetic tax clause and real-world results from a regulatory pilot in Uruguay, it explains how syntax, not semantics, has become the driver of compliance.

Why This Matters

Legal professionals, tax authorities, and technologists all grapple with automation. Yet few realize that the core determinant of machine-executability is grammar. Not meaning. Not context. Not precedent. Just form.

In regulatory frameworks, a clause such as:

“If an invoice exceeds 5,000 USD, apply a withholding tax of 12 percent.”

is no longer subject to discretionary interpretation. Once it conforms to a deterministic grammar and passes closure, it becomes an executable object. The decision to apply the tax is triggered automatically. There is no judge. No accountant. No ambiguity.

This reconfigures the nature of authority. Interpretation yields to structure.

Example: The 12% Tax Clause

The following clause was generated as a synthetic example for testing regulatory automation systems:

“If an invoice exceeds 5,000 USD, apply a withholding tax of 12 percent.”

Using the regla compilada model (see Grammars of Power, Startari, 2025, p. 8), it was parsed using a deterministic LL(1) grammar. It met all structural thresholds:

The parser identified a Condition (“invoice exceeds 5,000 USD”) and an Action (“apply 12 percent withholding tax”). The structure matches the compiled grammar exactly.

This clause belongs to Class C0. It is fully executable. Once read, it activates automatically and without appeal.

Real-World Impact: From Legislative Clause to Executable Grammar

A clause from the Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023—specifically Section 2(4), which reads:

“Where a document is capable of exclusive control by a person, that document may be treated as having been possessed by that person.”

was analyzed using the regla compilada parsing model. Despite its formal clarity in legal prose, the clause failed to meet structural closure and determinism thresholds:

This resulted in classification as D1: a declarative clause with partial syntactic closure but unresolved derivation. Although valid under legal standards, it cannot be executed without semantic interpretation. This case illustrates how current legislative drafting resists direct compilation—highlighting the gap between statutory form and machine-executability.

In contrast, Accord Project smart clause templates—such as Late Payment Penalty and Fixed Fee Withholding—have successfully passed into C0 class under the regla compilada grammar. These templates:

The Accord templates now serve as testbeds in industry pilots, including contract automation platforms in the US and EU. They demonstrate how contract libraries designed with grammatical constraints can automate enforcement without judicial intervention.

Together, these examples underscore the central claim: grammar determines execution. Where law fails to compile, interpretation persists. Where law compiles, execution is immediate.

What This Means for Legal Professionals

Compiled legality alters the core of legal drafting.

  1. You are no longer writing for humans only.
  2. You are writing for machines that parse rather than interpret.
  3. Form replaces intent.
  4. A clause either compiles or fails. There is no middle ground.
  5. Drafting becomes engineering.
  6. To control legal outcomes, you must control grammar.

This affects statutory design, compliance frameworks, contract libraries, and procedural enforcement. Especially in high-frequency contexts such as tax, procurement, and cross-border finance, the change is already operational.

Compliance Is Now Structural

One of the core claims of this model is that compliance no longer depends on interpretation. If a clause satisfies the three criteria :

This is the essence of regla compilada.

Call to Action

To explore the full framework and its implementation, consult:

📄 “Compiled Norms: Towards a Formal Typology of Executable Legal Speech”

🔗 [SSRN DOI Link — publication]

This is a foundational text for researchers in AI and law, compliance automation, and linguistic formalism in institutional systems.

Author Identifiers

Ethos

I do not use artificial intelligence to write what I don’t know. I use it to challenge what I do. I write to reclaim the voice in an age of automated neutrality. My work is not outsourced. It is authored. — Agustin V. Startari