SPECIAL NOTE:
The reader will only be able to understand the purpose and meaning of this annotation and its relationship to the Natural Social Contract (NSC), if s/he has first read the Introduction section of the NSC and its explanatory and elucidating annotation.
1) As with any Valid Contract, it is Required that The Contract includes clear Stipulations regarding Termination, Breach and Arbitration of The Contract. The Term of the NSC for each Freeman is the Duration between its Published Execution by hir and its Termination by either hir self-resignation or a Finding of Breach against hir. A Freeman who is not Contractually (non-NSC) Involved with other Freemen and is in an Intact Equity Relationship with all Freemen is Entitled to terminate hir Status of "Freeman" (effectively to unilaterally resign from The Contract and withdraw from the Freeman Society) by simply Publishing hir desire to do so. However, because other Freemen may have yet to make Charges against hir, such a resignation does not become effective until 30 days after its Publication. As with any Action that is not Required by the NSC, a Freeman is also Entitled to Change hir mind (Alter hir Choice Estimations) and to withdraw a Notice of Termination during that 30 day period. Of course, even after the 30 days s/he can also become a Freeman again at any time (as long as s/he is not in a period of Breach Duration). The 30 days notice is a somewhat arbitrary time that seemed to me to be neither too much nor too little all things considered, but I am fully open to any reasonable adjustment of this timing (as I am with all other numbers specified in the NSC).
2)Just as every Freeman is Entitled to make hirself into an Ex-Freeman as long as s/he is free from Responsibilities to any other Freeman beyond those in the NSC, so also under the same circumstances s/he is Entitled to place the Status of Breach against hir name and become an Ex-Freeman in that manner for a period of Breach Duration that s/he hirself specifies. If a Freeman knows that s/he has Breached the NSC and is about to be Charged, this may be a useful preemptive Action that will enable hir to seek refuge with another Freeman who will Act as a kind of protective guardian for hir while s/he serves out hir self-imposed penalty on that Freeman's Property, perhaps working for hir. This Action does not, of course, stop any Freeman from still Charging hir with Breach when s/he rejoins the Freeman Society after the passage of the Breach Duration. However, it may be sufficient penalty that such a Charge may not happen. If there is necessary Restitution to some particular Freeman or Freemen related to the Breach, then, of course, s/he will need to pay that back either during the period of Breach or after rejoining the Freeman Society and concluding a formal Restitution Agreement.
3) Stipulation D.3 describes the Entitlement of every Freeman to create a Case containing a Charge of Breach and details the Mandatory conditions for such a Case Process. Since a Breach of the NSC is effectively a Violation of all Freeman at the same time, one of the important conditions of a Trial Decision Process for a Case of Breach is that a Jury Must make the Determination and the Finding. The Restitution Request for a Case of Breach will include payment of all the costs of the Case including the expenses of the Jurors if they so request, but it is the only kind of Charge that by its very nature cannot be fully restitutional to all who have been Harmed by it (all Freemen) unless there is some requested penalty. This is why the conditions of a Breach Case Require that a minimum of 48 hours Breach Duration must be specified in the Restitution Request (which is little more than a symbolic "slap on the hand" type of penalty). Of course, any other Freeman may also Charge Breach even at the same time and Request a longer period of Breach Duration. Therefore, it is likely best for the Freeman who creates the Case to allow the Jury to decide what the period of Breach Duration should be.
4) Stipulation D.4 describes the exact conditions under which a charge of Breach of the NSC must be Excused by Trial and no Breach Duration penalty can be imposed. Because of this Responsibility of any Freeman taking part in a Trial, these Excusable Breach situations are stated as an Entitlement of any Freeman. There are only two such:
5) The next Stipulation, D.5, is a little stronger than D.4.a, but has a similar effect. It gives any Freeman the Entitlement to Defend hirself without committing Breach at all. This means that an Intentional Action that would otherwise be a Violation must be ruled as not a Breach as long as it was clearly a Defensive Action. Whether or not this comes about depends entirely on the definition of Defendable Threat and the Trial agreeing that the Intentional Action was in response to a Defendable Threat. Therefore, at this point the reader should review the definition of Defendable Threat in order to understand the clarity of when such rulings will and will not happen. Some examples of situations and Actions that will qualify for these two rulings (as Excusable Breach due to fear of Unrestitutable Harm and invalidated Breach as a result of a response to a Defendable Threat) will be given elsewhere.
6) It is imperative that an individual should not be able to escape with impunity from hir Responsibilities under the NSC by simply resigning from the NSC and no longer being a Freeman. However, unless some form of imprisonment is imposed, which generally does no good to anyone, there is no way to prevent such an Action except to make a part of the NSC that if an individual does so, then s/he will not be eligible to become a Freeman again until all such originally incurred Responsibilities are accepted and all consequent restitutions are completed. This then is the purpose of Stipulation D.6 - which basically states that all Responsibilities under the NSC do not end with Breach validation or any other Termination of a Freeman's Status under the NSC. Particularly, when a Breach has been committed and validated, it will generally be necessary for the Breaching Ex-Freeman to become a dependant of some other Freeman (usually a Freeman to whom s/he owes Restitution) until all Responsibilities are completed and s/he can return to Freeman Status. The Status of "In Termination" attached to hir Identifying Information is used to signify that the Ex-Freeman is in such a State of continued Responsibility.
7) The purpose of the last two Stipulations of section D is to satisfy the Requirements of the definition for Valid Contract so that the NSC itself becomes one. These Stipulations verify that the NSC does have both an Arbitration Process and a Breach Penalty clause as is necessary for any Valid Contract and specifically state what these are.
