SOURCE 0 - THE REGISTRY NOBODY HAD TO INVENT
AI governance keeps reaching for nuclear and chemical weapons treaties when it looks for a verification precedent. A lighter, working version has run since 1965: Articles 6 and 7 of the Hague Apostille Convention bind a certifying authority, distinct from the officer whose act it certifies, to answer any interested party — no standing required, no exception.
SOURCE 0 - THE FACT THAT IT EXISTED
Article 1(a) of the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention names the huissier de justice. Article 1(d), read past by most commentary, names something more useful for anteriority disputes: the fact that a document already existed on a certain date. A second, independent treaty foundation for SOURCE 0's pre-execution architecture.

