Overview
A fact matters in litigation because of the law it engages: a date because of a limitation period, a notice because of a contractual or statutory requirement, a product because of a building code. The Legal Knowledge Base holds the statutes, regulations, rules of procedure and case law of the matter’s jurisdiction and connects them to the findings on the record, so a factual conflict is presented with the provision it engages.
Counsel can also research the law directly, with answers drawn from the provisions themselves and the dates on which each was in force.
Where it is used
Limitation and time bars
The limitation and notice provisions relevant to the disputed dates, identified alongside them.
Duties and standards
The obligations a party’s conduct is measured against, such as the building code provisions in the matter shown.
Enforceability
Provisions bearing on the enforceability of contractual terms, such as indemnities and arbitration clauses.
Research
Questions of law answered from the provisions, with the dates on which each was in force.
In practice
The matter shown is a construction defect claim. In addition to the building code, it engages the limitation period, the enforceability of an indemnity clause, and whether the dispute is subject to arbitration.
The law the matter engages
One provision for each question, of the 12 the matter engages.
One finding and the law it engages
High · Scope conflict
NFPA 285 certification rests on a report whose own scope excludes a polyethylene core
Law engaged
Of the 57 findings on this matter, 14 engage a provision of law.
Case law
Judgments are held alongside the legislation, so counsel works from the passage relied on. The subsequent treatment of each decision, whether it has been followed, distinguished or overruled, together with commentary on it, is in development.
How it works
Law and fact are held separately and labelled throughout, so a proposition of law is never presented as evidence. Where the knowledge base does not hold a provision a question requires, it says so rather than approximating. The application of the law to the matter remains a question for counsel.