Contracts and legal agreements

This section is not intended to replace formal legal documents, nor existing legal processes.

The goal is to show how STXT can be used as a readable and structured source format for contracts, agreements, and regulatory documents that:

• must be read and understood by people,
• contain rules, conditions, and exceptions,
• and often coexist with technical or operational processes.

What types of documents

In this context, we are talking about:

• Service provision contracts.
• Master agreements.
• SLAs (Service Level Agreements).
• NDAs (confidentiality agreements).
• Terms and conditions.
• Internal policies and corporate regulations.

Many of these documents:

• start out as “legal text”,
• but end up having a direct impact on operations, systems, or people.

Common problems in legal documents

In practice:

• The text is long and dense.
• Important conditions are “buried” in paragraphs.
• Key data (dates, parties, amounts, deadlines) are not easily extractable.
• Versioning changes is complex (PDFs, Word).
• There is no clear separation between:
  • regulatory content,
  • contractual data,
  • and explanatory context.

STXT does not eliminate legal complexity, but it organizes the document.

Example 1 — Simple agreement

A basic agreement between two parties, with legal text and explicit data.

Agreement (@com.acme.legal.contract):
	Id: AGR-2026-001
	Title: Service provision agreement
	Status: Draft
	Effective date: 2026-02-01

	Parties:
		Party:
			Name: ACME Corp
			Role: Provider
		Party:
			Name: Example Ltd
			Role: Client

	Purpose >>
		This agreement governs the provision of technical support services
		between the parties.

	Term:
		Start: 2026-02-01
		End: 2027-01-31

	Payment:
		Fee: 12000
		Currency: EUR
		Billing period: Monthly

	Governing law: ES

What you gain with this structure

• The parties and dates are clear data.
• The legal text remains text, without “chopping it up”.
• The document is readable without technical knowledge.

Example 2 — Clauses as explicit sections

Clauses are a natural tree.

Agreement (@com.acme.legal.contract):
	Id: AGR-2026-002
	Title: Confidentiality agreement

	Clauses:
		Clause:
			Number: 1
			Title: Definition of confidential information
			Text >>
				Confidential information shall be understood as any
				non-public information disclosed by either party.

		Clause:
			Number: 2
			Title: Confidentiality obligations
			Text >>
				The parties undertake not to disclose confidential
				information to third parties without prior consent.

		Clause:
			Number: 3
			Title: Exceptions
			Text >>
				Information that is
				in the public domain or required by law shall not be considered confidential.

Example 3 — SLA (service level agreement)

An SLA mixes regulatory text with concrete metrics.

SLA (@com.acme.legal.sla):
	Service: Payments platform
	Effective date: 2026-03-01

	Availability:
		Target percentage: 99.9
		Measurement period: Monthly

	Response times:
		Severity:
			Level: Critical
			Max response minutes: 30
		Severity:
			Level: High
			Max response minutes: 120

	Penalties:
		Penalty:
			Condition >>
				Availability below the monthly target.
			Consequence >>
				10% discount on the monthly invoice.

	Legal text >>
		The metrics will be measured in accordance with the procedures
		described in the technical annex.

Example 4 — Exceptions and conditions

Contracts often have rules with exceptions.

Clause:
	Title: Limitation of liability
	Rule >>
		Total liability shall not exceed the annual amount of the contract.

	Exceptions:
		Exception >>
			Such limitation shall not apply in cases of willful misconduct or gross negligence.

Example 5 — History and versions

Agreements evolve: amendments, renewals, revisions.

Agreement (@com.acme.legal.contract):
	Id: AGR-2026-003
	Title: Master agreement

	History:
		Revision:
			Date: 2026-01-15
			Summary: Initial version
		Revision:
			Date: 2026-03-10
			Summary: Update to payment clauses

	Current version: 2

Example 6 — Legal comments and internal notes

It is common to separate:

• contractual text,
• internal notes,
• and legal observations.

Clause:
	Title: Jurisdiction

	Text >>
		The parties submit to the courts of Madrid.

	Internal notes >>
		Standard clause approved by legal.
		Do not modify without legal review.

Example 7 — Minimal template for agreements

A template can ensure that an agreement has the essential elements, without imposing legal drafting.

Template (@stxt.template): com.acme.legal.contract
	Description: Basic contract structure
	Structure >>
		Agreement:
			Id: (1)
			Title: (1)
			Status: (1) ENUM [Draft, Signed, Terminated]
			Effective date: (?)

			Parties: (1)
				Party: (+)
					Name: (1)
					Role: (1)

			Purpose: (?) TEXT
			Clauses: (?)
				Clause: (*)
					Title: (1)
					Text: (1) TEXT

			History: (?)

Why this approach is useful

Using STXT as a source format for contracts allows:

• Documents readable without special tools.
• Clear structure for human review.
• Automatic extraction of key data.
• Versioning and auditing via version control.

Without turning the contract into code or imposing an artificial formal language.

Summary

Contracts and legal agreements are, in essence:

• regulatory text,
• with repeatable structure,
• and critical data.

STXT makes it possible to represent them clearly, readably, and in a structured way, respecting their human and legal nature.