Constitutional Hierarchy

Not every document in the spec-spine corpus is equal. Conflicts resolve in a fixed order, where the highest tier wins.

The three tiers of authority

1. The bootstrap spec (Tier 1): The spec that defines what a spec is. It bootstraps the corpus; its invariants are non-overridable.
2. The constitution (Tier 2): Durable principles (e.g., markdown-only authored truth, compiler-owned JSON, spec-first development, determinism, legacy-as-evidence). It is subordinate to the bootstrap spec where they differ.
3. Ordinary specs (Tier 3): Feature-level claims operating within the constitutional envelope.

This hierarchy ensures that foundational rules cannot be quietly superseded by a feature-level specification.