Truth, threaded top to bottom
Nothing is admitted without a custody event. Each one presses a node onto the spine — actor, time, and hash — so the record reads like a deposition given under oath, not a dashboard glanced at.
Press the bulla
An exhibit enters under a lead-and-cyan seal. Brass marks the authority press — the heaviest node on the thread.
Take it under oath
The sworn statement is bound to the exhibit. The witness signs; the spine grows by one node.
Confirm the hash
BLAKE3 is checked against the master tree. A single cyan node means the seal held — the only light you count.
Render the verdict
With the thread unbroken end to end, the record is admitted. Custody is the proof; nothing else has to be.
A break in the thread
When counsel contests a seal, oxblood interrupts the spine and the verdict is held. Redaction crops the disputed text as mass — never decoration — until an officer re-presses the bulla and the thread closes again.
Three grades, one node
The whole palette is countable. A node is cyan, brass, or oxblood — verified, authority, or contested. Nothing else competes for that light.
Sealed
Unbroken, hash matched. One cyan node — the verified light you can count across the whole page.
Quorum
Pressed by an officer with a witness present. Brass is the authority seal — heavier than a routine match.
Contested
A challenge broke the thread. Oxblood holds the verdict until the seal is re-pressed and re-verified.
Custody, by the count
A chain is only as strong as its weakest node. Bulla keeps the tally in plain view so the thread can be trusted at a glance.
When the thread is whole, the verdict is simple
Admitted. Bulla presses one seal at a time and lets the custody spine carry the rest.