Scope

Sections are denoted by the § symbol followed by the section title. Subsections can be created by repeating the § symbol.

§ Section Title
§§ Subsection Title
§§§ Sub-subsection Title

This mechanism creates lexical scope.

Scope gives us the fine grain needed to encode legal expressions like "For the purposes of sections 2 and 3(a), tomato means ..."

Quoted Section Names

Section names can contain spaces and special characters when enclosed in backticks:

§ `Section Alpha`
§§ `Subsection with spaces`

Referencing Entities Across Sections

Entities defined in one section can be referenced from another section using qualified names.

Unqualified References

When sections are siblings (at the same level), entities from one section are visible in other sections without qualification:

§ `Section A`
sharedValue MEANS 42

§ `Section B`
-- sharedValue is visible here without qualification
result MEANS sharedValue PLUS 1

Qualified References with Dot Notation

You can explicitly qualify a reference with its section path using dot notation:

§ `Section A`
value MEANS 42

§ `Section B`
-- Explicit qualification with section name
result MEANS `Section A`.value PLUS 1

For nested sections, chain the section names:

§ `Section Alpha`
§§ `Subsection Beta`
§§§ `Deep Section`
deepValue MEANS 99

§ `Other Section`
-- Reference through the full path
result MEANS `Section Alpha`.`Subsection Beta`.`Deep Section`.deepValue PLUS 1

#EVAL result  -- evaluates to 100

Genitive Syntax ('s)

L4 supports an alternative genitive syntax using 's (apostrophe-s), which reads more naturally in legal English:

§ `Section A`
value MEANS 42

§ `Section B`
-- Using genitive syntax instead of dot
result MEANS `Section A`'s value PLUS 1

The genitive syntax is equivalent to dot notation and can be mixed:

-- These all refer to the same value:
result1 MEANS `Section Alpha`.`Subsection Beta`.`Deep Section`.deepValue
result2 MEANS `Section Alpha`'s `Subsection Beta`'s `Deep Section`'s deepValue
result3 MEANS `Section Alpha`'s `Subsection Beta`.`Deep Section`'s deepValue

When to Use Qualified References

Qualified references are useful when:

1. Disambiguation: Two sections define entities with the same name

2. Clarity: Making the source of a value explicit in complex documents

3. Cross-references: Mirroring legal language like "the value defined in Section 2(a)"

§ `Part 1`
threshold MEANS 1000

§ `Part 2`
threshold MEANS 500

§ `Comparison`
-- Need qualification to distinguish between the two thresholds
difference MEANS `Part 1`.threshold MINUS `Part 2`'s threshold

Section Aliases

Sections can have aliases using the AKA keyword. Aliases provide shorter names that can be used in qualified references:

§ `Definitions for Part VII` AKA defs

taxableIncome MEANS 50000

§ `Calculations`
-- Can use either the full name or the alias
result1 MEANS `Definitions for Part VII`.taxableIncome
result2 MEANS defs.taxableIncome