Court

Court Role

Court is the final dispute resolution layer of DelfiN. It receives a case after an answer is challenged in Oracle, accepts evidence, allows appeals, and returns the final result.

Court interface: https://court.suiprophet.app/.

Place in the Architecture

Court is also the Dispute Resolution Layer:

• a protocol may choose a specific resolution model;
• that choice is fixed in Rulebook;
• the dispute layer is separate from question publication and answer publication.

This means Oracle handles the optimistic flow, while Court provides finality in disputed cases.

How a Dispute Reaches Court

Normalized flow:

1. Answerer publishes an answer in Oracle.
2. Disputer appears during Liveness.
3. A case is opened in Court, with parameters already defined through Rulebook.
4. After the court process is completed, the result is returned to Oracle.

In addition to the oracle-driven scenario, Court also allows manual case creation. Such a case must always be attached to a Rulebook.

Case Participants

The court interface uses two roles:

• Claimant is the party that opened the dispute; in Oracle this is Disputer;
• Defendant is the party whose answer is challenged; in Oracle this is Answerer.

Case Statuses

Status	Meaning
Waiting	The case is open and waiting for review to begin.
Evidence submission	Parties may submit evidence until Evidence submission period expires.
Under review	The court is reviewing the case materials. There is no explicit time limit for this stage.
Appeal period	The appeal window is open until Appeal period expires.
Finalized	The ruling is final and, if the dispute came from Oracle, the result is returned there.

Evidence

Through the Evidence section, any user may attach evidence. Accepted materials include:

• text descriptions;
• links;
• documents;
• other supporting materials.

All evidence must be visible to the participants of the case.

Appeals

An appeal may only be filed by the losing side. Its parameters are defined in Rulebook:

• Appeal period;
• Appeal price;
• Max appeals.

If no appeal is filed in time, or the maximum number of appeals is reached, the decision becomes final.

Arbitration Models

The Court layer remains modular. Different arbitration mechanisms may be connected on top of the common interface.

Mechanism	Status	Description
Selected arbitrator	Implemented	The dispute is assigned to a specific arbitrator or arbitration party.
Decentralized court	Planned	The dispute is reviewed by a group of independent arbitrators.
Mathematical model	Planned	The dispute is resolved automatically according to agreed rules.

Selected arbitrator

The dispute is assigned to a specific arbitrator or arbitration party.

• Clear accountability.
• Suitable for B2B and legal scenarios.
• Fast dispute resolution.

Mathematical model

The dispute is resolved automatically based on agreed rules.

• Minimal costs.
• No subjective interpretation.
• Suitable for formalizable events, including insurance and games.

Decentralized court

The dispute is assigned to a group of independent arbitrators.

• Maximum decentralization.
• Greater resistance to abuse.
• Reputation and stake mechanics.

How Decentralized court works:

• the first round is reviewed by a group of N judges;
• if the result is challenged, the appeal goes to a panel of N+2 judges;
• the decision must rely on policy, Rulebook, and the submitted evidence.

What Is Inherited from Rulebook

For each case, Court uses the parameters fixed in Rulebook in advance:

Parameter	Meaning
Name Court	Name of the court that will handle disputes for questions under this Rulebook.
Description Court	Description of the court model and decision logic, such as participant arbitration, expert court, or DAO voting.
Evidence submission period	Window during which parties may submit evidence.
Appeal period	Window during which an appeal may be filed.
Appeal price (SUI)	Cost of filing an appeal.
Max appeals	Maximum number of appeals for one case.
Cost court (SUI)	Cost of hearing a case in court.