Authority Conservation Invariant: Authorization Admissibility Under Irreversible Binding

This paper introduces the Authority Conservation Invariant (ACI), a structural admissibility constraint governing authorization in systems where action binds irreversible consequences. Authorization is defined narrowly as the licensing of actions whose effects cannot be undone without further irreversible commitment, and is explicitly distinguished from legitimacy, correctness, performance, trust, or control. The invariant states that in irreversible systems, authority sufficient to authorize binding action cannot be generated internally. Such authority must be externally grounded and may only be conserved, transferred, or extinguished; it cannot be internally produced, amplified, or self-issued by the system whose actions it authorizes. The claim is jurisdictionally narrow and purely structural: it introduces no institutions, mechanisms, procedures, or normative standards, and advances no claims about the legitimacy or outcomes of authorized actions. ACI applies only where authorization binds irreversible state transitions. Advisory, provisional, revocable, or non-binding permissions fall outside its scope. The invariant is necessary but not sufficient: external grounding avoids one class of admissibility failure but does not confer legitimacy or correctness. Where authority sufficient to bind irreversible action originates internally, admissibility fails categorically, regardless of accuracy, success, acceptance, or institutional stability. The paper establishes a clear falsifiability boundary based on authority origin and demonstrates that no internal repair is possible once internal minting occurs. ACI is positioned independently of other admissibility constraints and terminates deliberately at the boundary it defines, offering a minimal conservation law for authorization under irreversibility.