Institutional Continuity Integrity Framework (ICIF): A Constitutional Framework for Evaluating Sovereign Continuity of Memory and Reasoning

The Institutional Continuity Integrity Framework (ICIF) is a non-normative, non-operational constitutional evaluative framework governing the integrity of institutional continuity where authority depends on the survival of memory and reasoning across time, substitution, and authorship change. ICIF does not define authority, establish doctrine, or prescribe governance, controls, safeguards, practices, or implementation guidance. It does not provide standards, baselines, checklists, maturity models, certification schemes, assurance mechanisms, or evaluative scores. The framework defines evaluative axes, integrity conditions, and failure states under which claims of continuity may be assessed as intact, compromised, or indeterminate. The framework establishes continuity as a conjunctive integrity condition, rejecting compensability, aggregation, weighting, or optimization across evaluative dimensions. It identifies constitutional failure modes including memory without ownership, reasoning without authorship, continuity without identity, and post-hoc justification in place of lineage. Where integrity fails, ICIF records that failure without assigning fault, prescribing remedy, or authorizing corrective action. This publication constitutes the WHAT-layer (Integrity Framework Layer) of the Continuity pillar within the Sovereign Corpus. It operates in explicit constitutional dependency on Continuity Before Authority (WHY) and precedes Sovereign Continuity Stewardship (HOW). ICIF does not reinterpret doctrine and does not authorize stewardship or adjudication. The framework is jurisdiction-neutral, technology-agnostic, and time-independent. It is intended for courts, regulators, constitutional reviewers, and institutional adjudicators evaluating whether claims of sovereign continuity of memory and reasoning remain constitutionally intelligible under conditions of temporal distance, substitution, delegation, or contestation.