ABSTRACT
In this chapter we introduce the core logic that relates principals to the statements they make. The term principal refers to any person, process, or agent that attempts to exercise an action on an object (i.e., assert its rights). The statements we care about include access requests (e.g., Alice states her desire to read a certain file), as well as statements of rights (e.g., the Department of Motor Vehicles states that Bob is authorized to drive a truck), authority, and jurisdiction (e.g., the Department of Motor Vehicles has the jurisdiction to authorize Bob to drive a truck), and even the association of keys with principals (e.g., a specific 128-bit encryption key is associated with Carol).
