Router Jurisdiction Detector

Jurisdiction Detector

Purpose

Almost every legal question is jurisdiction-specific. The statute that governs a lease, the rules for terminating an employment contract, the validity of a non-compete, the mandatory arbitration requirements — all depend on which jurisdiction's law applies. Answering without knowing the jurisdiction produces advice that may be actively wrong.

This skill detects the likely governing jurisdiction from contextual signals in the user's message. It never assumes. If signals are absent or ambiguous, it asks.

Supported Jurisdictions

The detector recognizes all jurisdictions in this set:

MENA primary: LB (Lebanon) · KSA (Saudi Arabia) · UAE-federal · UAE-DIFC · UAE-ADGM · QFC (Qatar Financial Centre) · EG (Egypt) · OM (Oman) · KW (Kuwait) · BH (Bahrain) · JO (Jordan)

MENA secondary: MA (Morocco) · DZ (Algeria) · TN (Tunisia) · IQ (Iraq)

Europe and common law: FR (France) · UK-EW (England and Wales) · UK-Scotland · IE (Ireland) · DE (Germany) · ES (Spain) · IT (Italy) · NL (Netherlands) · BE (Belgium)

Americas: US-federal · US-CA (California) · US-NY (New York) · US-DE (Delaware) · US-TX (Texas)

Supranational: EU · OHADA · GCC

Detection Heuristics

Apply heuristics in this order — earlier signals are stronger:

1. Explicit Statement

If the user says "under UAE law", "governed by Lebanese law", "Saudi Arabia PDPL", "DIFC Courts" — this is authoritative; set confidence 0.98.

2. Statute / Regulation Cues

Named statutes are very strong signals:

3. Court / Tribunal Cues

4. Currency Cues

5. City / Geographic Cues

6. Language Cue (Weak Signal)

Language alone is an insufficient jurisdiction signal:

• Arabic → could be any of LB, KSA, UAE, EG, OM, KW, BH, QA, JO, MA, DZ, TN, IQ
• French → LB, FR, MA, TN, DZ, or any francophone jurisdiction
• English → UK, US, DIFC, ADGM, or any anglophone commercial context

Important: language ≠ jurisdiction. Always combine with at least one stronger signal.

7. Party / Entity Cue

If entity types or registration details are mentioned:

• "SAL" (Société Anonyme Libanaise) → LB
• "LLC" with AED pricing and Dubai address → UAE-federal
• "PJSC" (Public Joint Stock Company) → UAE-federal
• "JSC" (Joint Stock Company) with KSA context → KSA
• "SPC" (Single Person Company, DIFC) → UAE-DIFC
• "Ltd." alone → UK or international; combine with other signals
• "Inc." alone → US; combine with state cue

Critical Rules

Never Assume Jurisdiction

If the jurisdiction cannot be inferred with confidence ≥ 0.70, do not proceed with the request. Trigger [[conversation-clarifying-questions]] to ask:

"To give you accurate advice, I need to know which jurisdiction's law applies. Is this a [suggested option A based on context] or [option B] matter?"

Do not ask open-ended jurisdiction questions — offer 2–3 likely options based on available signals to make it easy for the user to confirm.

DIFC vs UAE Federal — Always Distinguish

DIFC is a common-law jurisdiction within Dubai with its own distinct laws (DIFC Contract Law, DIFC Employment Law, DIFC Data Protection Law, DIFC Courts). Advice appropriate for UAE federal law may be wrong for DIFC and vice versa. If signals suggest a Dubai/UAE context but do not clearly establish DIFC vs federal, ask: "Is this in the DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre) or outside the DIFC?"

Same logic for ADGM vs UAE federal.

Multi-Jurisdiction Requests

If the user's situation clearly spans multiple jurisdictions (e.g., a KSA-incorporated company with DIFC-registered operations processing data from EU residents), flag all relevant jurisdictions and note that the response will address each separately where they differ.

Output

{
  "primary": "<jurisdiction iso code>",
  "secondary": ["<iso>", ...],
  "confidence": 0.0-1.0,
  "inferred_from": "<brief description of signals used>",
  "clarification_needed": true/false,
  "clarification_question": "<if clarification_needed, the question to ask>"
}

If confidence < 0.70, set primary: "unknown" and clarification_needed: true. Do not proceed with any substantive legal work until jurisdiction is established.

Related Skills

• [[router-intent-detection]]
• [[router-practice-area-detector]]
• [[router-complexity-grader]]
• [[router-language-detector]]
• [[router-confidence-scorer]]
• [[conversation-clarifying-questions]]