A.10.1:4.4 - Confirm Direct Reliance Before Following Reach
Search output supplies candidates. The receiving content supplies the reliance test.
| Discovery disposition | Use it when | What follows |
|---|---|---|
depends | The receiving action, interpretation, condition, result, check, specification, or public reference uses the changed claim through an exact direct relation and could change if that claim changes. | Include the use in affected reach and prepare a discovery-and-reach statement for application of its direct subject-pattern guidance. |
mentions only | The content cites, lists, stores, describes, or sits near the source, but its current action or result does not use the changed claim. | Exclude it from affected reach. Group equivalent irrelevant mentions and retain a short reason in the existing result when its receiver needs it; no separate certificate is required. |
unresolved | The premise, equivalent claim, applicability, direct relation, receiving content, or necessary access cannot yet be recovered or contested dependence remains. | Name the missing fact or owner. Continue independent resolved branches, but do not classify this candidate as unaffected. |
These discovery dispositions answer whether a found candidate belongs in the affected branch. They are not A.10 RelianceDisposition values. Use A.10 to judge whether one bounded evidence use passes, degrades, abstains, reopens, needs evidence or assurance, or is blocked for current use.
A citation, a present or missing trace, storage, indexing, carrier co-location, succession, ownership, declared dependency, graph reachability, or a shared keyword does not establish depends. A missing trace may be a discovery or coverage gap; it is not impact and it does not prove no impact. Conversely, an undeclared use can depend when the receiving content actually uses an equivalent premise.
Follow a depends branch only through another exact direct use relation. Stop before a downstream item whose action, condition, result, or required check cannot change. The affected reach is the smallest dependency-closed structure that contains every in-frame use that can change an action; it is not every transitively reachable node.
For a branch that needs subject judgment, supply the following discovery-and-reach content at the detail required by its receiver. It may already be present in the direct result; no second statement is needed:
| Position | Required content |
|---|---|
| Source change | Predecessor and later or replacement epistemes; exact material claim difference; unresolved identity, edition, or applicability facts. |
| Search and coverage | Present question, bounded frame, included surfaces, source-outward and receiver-oriented routes, explicit exclusions, and known gaps. |
| Direct use | Named receiving result or action, exact premise or other direct use relation, current conditions, and the evidence for depends. |
| Reach and stop | Further exact receiving uses followed, last action that can change, mentions only and unresolved candidates relevant to the branch, and the stop reason. |
| Subject application and result | The direct subject pattern to apply, its needed current inputs, the independently governed subject result to obtain, and the existing consumer that should receive that result. |
The statement is usable claim content for that subject judgment, not a new mandatory carrier or universal record. A table, list, matrix, or optional G.6 path slice may present it; the representation establishes none of its relations.