Concepts & definitions
A precise language for legal intelligence.
Understand the relationship between persistent matter context, evidence, professional review and governed work. Definitions connect to the practical choices behind the terminology.
From the record to the reasoning
What is a Matter Brain?
Matter Brain is Sanctum Lex’s name for a matter’s persistent evidence and structured intelligence layer. The authorized source corpus, facts, issues, chronology, positions and prior findings remain associated with the matter across conversations. Matter Brain gives lawyers continuity across the work, while source references allow them to inspect the evidence behind a conclusion.
What is provenance in legal AI?
Provenance in legal AI is the traceable relationship between a claim or generated conclusion and the material supporting it. Useful provenance identifies the source, version, page or passage, and the interpretation made from that evidence. A source link is a starting point; a lawyer must still check whether the cited passage supports the proposition and whether qualifications or conflicting evidence change its meaning.
What is institutional legal memory?
Institutional legal memory is the retained, permission-governed record of legal knowledge, reasoning and decisions that allows authorized colleagues to continue work over time. It connects prior advice to the facts, assumptions, evidence and obligations on which that advice depended. Institutional memory differs from an archive because a later user can understand the context and inspect what has changed, rather than merely retrieve an old document.
What are Stances in Sanctum Lex?
Stances are Sanctum Lex’s review perspectives for examining the same authorized matter record. Internal Strategy considers the team’s position and next steps; Opposing Counsel challenges weaknesses and competing interpretations; Judicial Review evaluates the positions neutrally. Stances change the analytical objective, not the underlying facts or permissions. The output is a review aid, not a prediction of a court’s decision or a substitute for professional judgment.
What is evidence coverage in legal AI?
Evidence coverage describes which authorized sources and passages were available, retrieved and actually examined for a legal AI task. A complete document inventory does not prove that every page was extracted, and a complete retrieval scan does not prove that every passage was analyzed. Coverage claims should identify the task boundary and material gaps so a selected answer is not mistaken for an exhaustive review.
Related foundations
These subjects already have dedicated guides. Follow their canonical explanations rather than a duplicate glossary entry.