Legislative Hierarchy

Legislation is organized in a tree of nested structural elements. AKN provides a standard set of hierarchy levels that jurisdictions can pick from to model their own legislation.

The hierarchy from top to bottom

book
  └─ part
       └─ title
            └─ subtitle
                 └─ chapter
                      └─ subchapter
                           └─ section
                                └─ subsection
                                     └─ article
                                          └─ paragraph
                                               └─ subparagraph
                                                    └─ clause
                                                         └─ subclause
                                                              └─ ...

Not all levels are used in every jurisdiction. The hierarchy is flexible:

France/Spain/Italy: typically use title → chapter → article → paragraph
UK: uses part → chapter → section → subsection
US: uses title → subtitle → chapter → subchapter → section
EU: uses title → chapter → section → article → paragraph

Hierarchy element structure

Every hierarchy element follows the same internal pattern:

<article eId="art_1">
  <num>1</num>                           <!-- optional: the number -->
  <heading>Short title</heading>         <!-- optional: the heading -->
  <subheading>More detail</subheading>   <!-- optional: subtitle -->
  <content>                              <!-- for leaf elements: inline content -->
    <p>The text of this article.</p>
  </content>
</article>

Or, for non-leaf elements (those containing sub-elements):

<section eId="sec_1">
  <num>1</num>
  <heading>General provisions</heading>
  <intro><p>This section establishes:</p></intro>   <!-- optional preamble text -->
  <article eId="sec_1__art_1"><!-- ... --></article>
  <article eId="sec_1__art_2"><!-- ... --></article>
  <wrapUp><p>The above provisions apply jointly.</p></wrapUp>  <!-- optional closing text -->
</section>

Key child elements

Element	Description	When to use
`<num>`	The official number/letter	"Article 1", "Section 3(a)"
`<heading>`	The title/heading	"General provisions"
`<subheading>`	Secondary heading	Subtitles, annotations
`<content>`	Inline content wrapper	Leaf elements (no children)
`<intro>`	Introduction before sub-elements	"The following shall apply:"
`<wrapUp>`	Closing text after sub-elements	"The above provisions are subject to..."

Content rule

A hierarchy element must contain either <content> (if it's a leaf) or child hierarchy elements (if it's a branch). It cannot have both <content> and child hierarchy elements.

The standard elements

Hierarchy containers (from largest to smallest)

Element	eId abbreviation	Typical usage
`<book>`	`book`	Large code divisions
`<part>`	`part`	Major divisions
`<title>`	`title`	—
`<subtitle>`	`subtitle`	—
`<chapter>`	`chp`	—
`<subchapter>`	`subchp`	—
`<section>`	`sec`	Key division in UK/US legislation
`<subsection>`	`subsec`	—
`<article>`	`art`	Key division in continental European legislation
`<paragraph>`	`para`	—
`<subparagraph>`	`subpara`	—
`<clause>`	`cl`	—
`<subclause>`	`subcl`	—
`<point>`	`point`	Lettered/numbered items
`<indent>`	`indent`	Indented sub-items
`<alinea>`	`al`	Used in French/EU tradition
`<rule>`	`rule`	Rules in regulations
`<subrule>`	`subrule`	Sub-rules
`<proviso>`	`proviso`	"Provided that..." clauses
`<division>`	`dvs`	Generic division
`<subdivision>`	`subdvs`	Generic subdivision

`<hcontainer>` — Custom hierarchy levels

When no standard element fits, <hcontainer> provides a custom hierarchy level:

<hcontainer name="disposicionTransitoria" eId="hcont_1">
  <heading>Transitional Provision 1</heading>
  <content><p>During the first year...</p></content>
</hcontainer>

The eId and wId conventions

eId (Expression-level identifier)

The eId uses hierarchical dot notation with double underscores (__) separating levels:

art_1                        → Article 1
art_1__para_2                → Paragraph 2 of Article 1
sec_3__art_1__para_2         → Paragraph 2 of Article 1 of Section 3

The prefix before the number is an abbreviation of the element name (see table above).

wId (Work-level identifier)

The wId is present only when it differs from eId — typically after renumbering:

<!-- Article was originally number 2, now renumbered to 3 -->
<article wId="art_2" eId="art_3">
  <num>3</num>
  <content><p>Originally article 2</p></content>
</article>

When wId is absent, it is implicitly equal to eId.

See Naming convention for complete rules.

Lists within hierarchy

Legislation often uses numbered/lettered lists within articles. AKN provides <list> (inline) and <blockList> (block-level):

<article eId="art_6">
  <heading>Artículo 6. Verduras</heading>
  <content>
    <p>Se utilizarán las siguientes verduras:</p>
    <blockList eId="art_6__list_1">
      <item eId="art_6__list_1__item_a">
        <num>(a)</num>
        <p>200 gramos de judía verde ancha</p>
      </item>
      <item eId="art_6__list_1__item_b">
        <num>(b)</num>
        <p>100 gramos de garrofón</p>
      </item>
      <item eId="art_6__list_1__item_c">
        <num>(c)</num>
        <p>1 tomate maduro rallado</p>
      </item>
    </blockList>
  </content>
</article>

Tables

For tabular content within legislation:

<table eId="art_3__table_1">
  <tr>
    <th><p>Category</p></th>
    <th><p>Maximum amount</p></th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td><p>Rice</p></td>
    <td><p>400g</p></td>
  </tr>
</table>

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