article · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026

Cabinet Mechanics and the Ontology of Legal Stall: Extending the Common Language Project to the Runtime Layer

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Abstract

This working paper examines a recurring condition in rule-dense legal systems: legality may be fully intelligible—validity is settled, rules are recognized, and interpretive coherence is achievable—while institutional processes nevertheless fail to move. The analysis re-reads three major jurisprudential “common language” projects—validity (Kelsen), recognition (Hart), and integrity (Dworkin)—through a runtime-oriented comparative question: what their vocabularies can describe when law operates as an ongoing, coupled institutional process under cumulative load. The central finding is scope-based: classical jurisprudential languages unify legal intelligibility but do not supply a localization grammar for operational stall, interface friction, and accumulation as runtime phenomena. To keep this runtime layer observable without reframing the inquiry as policy debate or normative evaluation, the paper uses a cabinet–drawer distinction as an operational benchmark and descriptive vocabulary. “Drawers” denote domain-level rule structures that are legally correct within their respective compartments; the “cabinet” denotes system-level coordination conditions in which interfaces, thresholds, and coupling become localizable features of operation. The cabinet–drawer model is not presented as a theory of law or an interpretive framework. It functions as a descriptive device that renders movement and non-movement legible through repeatable observational artifacts, while leaving questions of validity, legitimacy, and substantive reform untouched.

Cite this paper

APA 7

Huang, J. Y. (2026). Cabinet Mechanics and the Ontology of Legal Stall: Extending the Common Language Project to the Runtime Layer. Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18684484

MLA 9

Huang, Jim Yongzhi. “Cabinet Mechanics and the Ontology of Legal Stall: Extending the Common Language Project to the Runtime Layer.” Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2026, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18684484.

Chicago

Huang, Jim Yongzhi. 2026. “Cabinet Mechanics and the Ontology of Legal Stall: Extending the Common Language Project to the Runtime Layer.” Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18684484.

Harvard

Huang, J.Y. (2026) ‘Cabinet Mechanics and the Ontology of Legal Stall: Extending the Common Language Project to the Runtime Layer’, Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research). Available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18684484.

BibTeX

@article{huang2026cabinet,
  title = {{Cabinet Mechanics and the Ontology of Legal Stall: Extending the Common Language Project to the Runtime Layer}},
  author = {Huang, Jim Yongzhi},
  journal = {Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.5281/zenodo.18684484}
}

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