Freshness State. The governed age condition of evidence: whether the source is fresh enough, stale enough, or unknown enough for this conclusion, actor, and use.
Freshness is not only a timestamp. A source snapshot may have a fetch date, but the system still needs a rule that interprets that date in context. The same source can be fresh for background explanation and stale for enforcement, legal, financial, or security action.
Freshness state feeds evidence eligibility, source health, and confidence gates. When freshness is weak or unknown, the honest outcomes are downgrade, route to review, request newer evidence, or refuse the conclusion.