SHANT

Creates a prohibition preventing a party from performing an action. The party is forbidden from acting.

Syntax

PARTY partyName SHANT action
PARTY partyName SHANT action WITHIN deadline

Purpose

SHANT expresses a legal prohibition - something a party must NOT do. If the party performs the forbidden action, breach occurs.

Examples

Example file:

-- SHANT Keyword Examples - Legal Prohibitions
--
-- The SHANT keyword (and its alternative MUST NOT) expresses legal prohibitions
-- - actions that a party is forbidden from performing.
--
-- Key Concepts:
--   • SHANT means "shall not" - a party must refrain from an action
--   • If the prohibited action occurs, it results in BREACH
--   • SHANT and MUST NOT are equivalent - use whichever reads more naturally
--   • Prohibitions are maintained by NOT performing the forbidden action
--
-- Common Legal Uses:
--   • Non-disclosure agreements (protecting confidential information)
--   • Non-compete clauses (restricting competitive activities)
--   • Lease restrictions (limiting tenant actions)
--   • Loan covenants (preventing risky borrower behavior)
--
-- This file demonstrates typical prohibition patterns found in:
--   • Employment contracts
--   • Lease agreements  
--   • Loan agreements
--   • Commercial contracts
--

-- Type Declarations

DECLARE `Legal Party` IS ONE OF
  `The Employee`
  `The Employer`
  `The Tenant`
  `The Landlord`
  `The Borrower`
  `The Lender`

DECLARE `Prohibited Action` IS ONE OF
  `disclose confidential information`
  `compete with employer` HAS `competing business` IS A STRING
  `sublease the premises`
  `make alterations` HAS `alteration type` IS A STRING
  `incur additional debt` HAS `debt amount` IS A NUMBER
  `dispose of collateral`
  `pay penalty` HAS `penalty amount` IS A NUMBER

-- Basic Prohibition - Non-Disclosure Agreement

-- A simple prohibition with a time period
`confidentiality obligation` MEANS
  PARTY `The Employee`
  SHANT `disclose confidential information`
  WITHIN 1825  -- 5 years in days

-- Prohibition with MUST NOT (Alternative Syntax)

-- MUST NOT and SHANT are equivalent ways to express prohibition
`non-compete clause` MEANS
  PARTY `The Employee`
  MUST NOT `compete with employer` "software development"
  WITHIN 730  -- 2 years in days

-- Prohibition with Breach Consequence

-- If the prohibition is violated, an explicit breach is declared
`no subleasing` MEANS
  PARTY `The Tenant`
  SHANT `sublease the premises`
  WITHIN 365
  LEST BREACH BY `The Tenant` BECAUSE "violated lease agreement section 8"

-- Conditional Prohibition

-- Prohibition applies only when a condition is met
`structural alteration prohibition` MEANS
  PARTY `The Tenant`
  SHANT `make alterations` `alt type` PROVIDED
    `alt type` EQUALS "structural" OR `alt type` EQUALS "load-bearing"
  WITHIN 365
  LEST BREACH BY `The Tenant` BECAUSE "made unauthorized structural changes"

-- Prohibition with Financial Threshold

-- Common in loan agreements - borrower cannot take on significant new debt
`debt restriction` MEANS
  PARTY `The Borrower`
  SHANT `incur additional debt` `new debt` PROVIDED `new debt` GREATER THAN 50000
  WITHIN 1095  -- 3 years
  LEST BREACH BY `The Borrower` BECAUSE "exceeded debt covenant limit"

-- Prohibition with Financial Penalty

-- If prohibition is violated, a financial penalty must be paid
`collateral protection` MEANS
  PARTY `The Borrower`
  SHANT `dispose of collateral`
  WITHIN 1095
  LEST
    PARTY `The Borrower`
    MUST `pay penalty` 10000
    WITHIN 30
    LEST BREACH BY `The Borrower` BECAUSE "failed to pay penalty for collateral disposal"

-- Testing Prohibitions

-- Test 1: Prohibition complied with (no action taken - this is success)
#TRACE `confidentiality obligation` AT 0 WITH

-- Test 2: Prohibition violated (action taken - this should result in breach)
#TRACE `confidentiality obligation` AT 0 WITH
  PARTY `The Employee` DOES `disclose confidential information` AT 100

-- Test 3: Conditional prohibition not violated (condition not met)
#TRACE `structural alteration prohibition` AT 0 WITH
  PARTY `The Tenant` DOES `make alterations` "cosmetic" AT 50

-- Test 4: Conditional prohibition violated (condition met)
#TRACE `structural alteration prohibition` AT 0 WITH
  PARTY `The Tenant` DOES `make alterations` "structural" AT 50

-- Test 5: Financial prohibition within threshold (allowed)
#TRACE `debt restriction` AT 0 WITH
  PARTY `The Borrower` DOES `incur additional debt` 40000 AT 100

-- Test 6: Financial prohibition exceeded (breach)
#TRACE `debt restriction` AT 0 WITH
  PARTY `The Borrower` DOES `incur additional debt` 75000 AT 100

Basic Prohibition

DECLARE Person IS ONE OF Alice, Bob
DECLARE Action IS ONE OF smoke, drink, gamble

noSmoking MEANS
  PARTY Alice
  SHANT smoke
  WITHIN 30

Prohibition with Consequence

noDrinkingRule MEANS
  PARTY Bob
  SHANT drink
  WITHIN 30
  LEST BREACH BY Bob BECAUSE "violated policy"

Conditional Prohibition

limitedGambling MEANS
  PARTY Alice
  SHANT gamble amt PROVIDED amt > 100
  WITHIN 30

Prohibition Semantics

• Prohibition is maintained when the party does NOT perform the action
• Prohibition is breached when the party performs the forbidden action
• LEST consequences trigger on breach

Related Keywords

• PARTY - Identifies who has the prohibition
• MUST - Obligation (required action)
• MAY - Permission (optional action)
• REGULATIVE - Full regulative rule reference