The Humanity Compact

Yaïche, Nizar

doi:10.5281/zenodo.22746533

Annex H — Legal grid of the acts of the chain

Annex 8 of 17 · ≈ 2 min read · 16 paragraphs · section 30 of 40 · search the book

This annex provides two legal qualification tools intended to discipline the analysis of any act of the architecture. They are analytical grids, not legal opinions: they indicate the questions to be asked and the categories to be distinguished, not the answers, which depend on the jurisdiction and the instrument under consideration.¶ 1

H.1 The twelve-question test. Any act liable to have a legally significant effect, and any presentation of an act of the chain as binding, must be able to answer, in order:¶ 2

1. Source. What is the norm invoked, what is its exact status, and which rule confers the competence or creates the obligation — treaty, constitutive instrument, empowered decision, statute, contract, custom or peremptory norm (§3.1.1)?¶ 3

2. Binding act. By what act did the subject become bound — ratification, accession, membership, absence of opt-out, contractual clause, legislative incorporation or application of a general rule — and to whom does the obligation apply ratione personae?¶ 4

3. Scope. To which facts does it apply ratione materiae, temporis and loci, and is the act in force, applicable and opposable at the relevant time?¶ 5

4. Competence. Does the author of the act possess the necessary material, personal, territorial and temporal competence?¶ 6

5. Procedure. Have the rules on voting, participation, notification, statement of reasons, adversarial process and publication been complied with?¶ 7

6. Precision. Is the obligation sufficiently determinate for its addressee to know the conduct required or prohibited?¶ 8

7. Causation. What is the causal link — scientific, economic, then legal — between the conduct and the alleged effect?¶ 9

8. Breach. Is there a breach, or only lawful, uncompensated or inequitable harm — in which case S0-S6 routing applies outside S6 (§9.7)?¶ 10

9. Standing and forum. Who has standing to act or to invoke responsibility, and before which forum?¶ 11

10. Remedies. Which consequences are authorised — declaration, cessation, review, restitution, compensation, satisfaction, suspension, annulment, guarantees of non-repetition — and under which standard of proof?¶ 12

11. Enforcement and conflicts. How is the decision recognised and enforced, having regard to immunities, public policy, the law of the seat, and its compatibility with the Charter of the United Nations, peremptory norms, applicable treaties, constitutions and third-party rights?¶ 13

12. Reversibility. Which rules govern amendment, denunciation, withdrawal, the survival of obligations and the treatment of pending case files?¶ 14

Stopping rule. If the source, the competence, the attachment or the applicability cannot be established, the act cannot be qualified as a legally binding obligation. It may remain a reference standard, a recommendation, a political commitment or an experimental protocol; its status is then displayed without ambiguity.¶ 15

H.2 Legal nature of the seven functions. The qualification varies from one function of the chain to another; the table below gives the first-intention reading.¶ 16

The table is wider than the screen: drag it sideways.

Table H1 — Legal nature, applicable law and review of the seven functions
Function	Possible nature of the act	Applicable law	Review
Measure	Scientific report / preparatory act	Data, evidence, adversarial process, confidentiality	Methodological review; procedural review
Rate	Expert opinion or administrative act, depending on incorporation	Reasons, consistency, non-discrimination, conflict of interest	Internal redress, then external review
Price	Tax, levy, adjustment, contractual clause or contribution	Legality, taxing power, base, proportionality, appropriation	Tax or administrative court, arbitration or internal mechanism
Adjust	Customs act, restriction, access condition or recognition	WTO, customs, origin, national treatment, most-favoured nation, procedure	National redress, inter-State WTO proceedings, treaty-based review
Finance	Fiduciary decision, grant, loan or guarantee	Eligibility, trust, safeguards, procurement, audit	Grievance mechanism, audit, judicial review
Certify	Accreditation or regulatory decision	Human rights, data, evidence, technical standard	Complaint, appeal, withdrawal or suspension
Adjudicate	Internal judgment, award, administrative decision or opinion	Jurisdiction, admissibility, independence, fair trial	Appeal, annulment, recognition or enforcement depending on the regime

Cite this section

Yaïche, Nizar (2026). Annex H — Legal grid of the acts of the chain. In The Humanity Compact (v2.3). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22746533

@incollection{yaiche_hc_annexe_h,
  author    = {Yaïche, Nizar},
  title     = {Annex H — Legal grid of the acts of the chain},
  booktitle = {The Humanity Compact},
  year      = {2026},
  version   = {2.3},
  doi       = {10.5281/zenodo.22746533},
  publisher = {Zenodo},
  url       = {https://humanitycompact.org/ouvrage/annexe-h/}
}

A book by Nizar Yaïche, former Minister of Finance of the Republic of Tunisia. Who is the author?

Annex H — Legal grid of the acts of the chain

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