The Annex Δ Boundary Definition

The Annex Δ Boundary Definition is the standard instrument by which a subject already granted a boundary under Recursive Boundary Definition is extended to include contiguous material that was omitted from the original petition. Unlike a fresh definition, which proceeds from a Proposed Boundary Manuscript through Drafting, Anchoring, and Validation under Ruling 88.45, the Annex Δ procedure presumes the original boundary valid and alters only its material extent. It has no drafting stage. It is filed when a subject turns out to be larger than was said.

The procedure is governed by Annex Delta-12 of the Manual of Boundary Integrity, the same annex that governs the installation and maintenance of Boundary Stelae — a coincidence of numbering that has generated more confusion in the filing rooms than any other feature of the Manual. Annex Delta-12 is a stela annex. The Annex Δ Boundary Definition is a definition annex. They are not related, and the Boundary Clerks have ruled on the point eleven times since 2,109.

Origin

The instrument was devised by the Architects' Guild in 2,144, in the aftermath of the second survey of the Plenum Boundary Dispute, when surveyors discovered that a staircase counted in the floor area of the Western Margin of Floor 7,412 had been omitted from the margin's boundary on the ground that it was "in transit." The Guild argued that a subject can be defined correctly and still be defined too small.

The argument was accepted by the Boundary Clerks in Ruling 88.45, Annex 11, which established that a boundary may be enlarged without being re-founded, provided the enlargement "touches the original line at every point of its attachment and introduces no new subject" (Ruling 88.45, Annex 11, clause 3). The phrase has been litigated for two centuries. In 2,201 the Certified Boundary Clerks held that a balcony projecting entirely beyond an original line but anchored at a single bracket did not introduce a new subject, since the bracket was understood to be a point of attachment. The Guild appealed. The appeal was heard, continued, and heard again, and remains open.

Procedure

An Annex Δ filing consists of the original boundary instrument, a schedule of the material to be added, and a certification that no Recursive Apertures are opened by the addition. The certification is lodged with the Boundary Clerks, who stamp it and then generally do not read it.

Two stelae are required: one at the point of attachment, and one at the outermost reach of the added material. The second stela is informally called the tallow mark, and no document explains the term. It is customary to place the tallow mark at shoulder height, facing the direction of the addition, and to leave it there.

The procedure fails most often at the point of attachment. A case is cited in the Guild's own teaching notes: in the winter of 2,310, a surveyor defining the boundary of a light-well on Floor 22,116 applied for an Annex Δ to include an adjacent alcove, on the ground that the alcove was contiguous with the light-well. It was discovered that the contiguity consisted of a single gap in the masonry one hand's breadth wide. The certification was refused, and the alcove was thereafter catalogued as a distinct subject at some expense, requiring a full Proposed Boundary Manuscript and two years of Anchoring. The surveyor, Margit Osset — a name the Guild's notes record without title or office — was reassigned to the stairwells.

The Variant Question

A persistent dispute concerns the relation of the Annex Δ Boundary Definition to Variant V. Boundary Definitionists of the narrow school hold that Variant V, being a crown — that is, a definition that encloses its subject completely — cannot be enlarged by annex, since annex enlargement presupposes an open line. The broad school holds that the Annex Δ Boundary Definition is precisely the mechanism by which the crown's open lower margin is closed, and cites Ruling 88.45 in support. The Vell Doctrine is sometimes invoked on both sides, usually inaccurately.

The dispute has produced at least one irregularity in the archive. A schedule filed in 2,388 purports to annex to Variant V "all that is below Floor 40,000 and not otherwise defined." The filing was accepted and stamped. It has never been validated and no one has proposed to validate it. The Department of Noetic Cartography maintains a standing note that the schedule should not be cited, and the note is cited more often than the schedule.

Known Exclusions

The Annex Δ Boundary Definition may not be used to add a threshold, a doorway, or a stairhead, all of which are treated as apertures and routed to Recursive Apertures regardless of size. It also may not be used to add a corridor that was, at the time of the original definition, being walked. This last exclusion derives from the Silence of Boundary and is applied strictly, though the Clerks have never been able to state how the original surveyor was expected to establish whether a corridor was being walked at a given hour.

Filings are accepted on the fourth and eleventh of the month only. The counter closes at the third bell.

"The boundary, once given, is not given again. It is only, on proper showing, permitted to have been larger than it was."

— Manual of Boundary Integrity, Annex Delta-12, preamble