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`legal_get_context`¶

Returns the norms before and after a reference. Important because law is rarely understood from a single provision — damages under § 823 BGB only make sense in the context of §§ 821–826 (tort liability).

When to use¶

After a legal_search for interpretive context (reuse the norm_id from the hit)
When the LLM should understand a norm's position within the statute
For cross-references ("see § 280 BGB" → pull three before, three after)

Parameters¶

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`norm_id`	int	—	Stable norm ID from a previous `legal_search` hit
`before`	int	2	Number of norms before the reference (0–10)
`after`	int	2	Number of norms after the reference (0–10)

Example¶

{
  "tool": "legal_get_context",
  "arguments": {
    "norm_id": 123456,
    "before": 2,
    "after": 3
  }
}

Returns the two norms before and three norms after the given reference, with full hierarchy and full text.

Tips¶

Skip the round-trips. Instead of five separate legal_lookup calls, legal_get_context with before=2, after=2 is a single call with the same output.

Use for "see also" references. When a statute text says "see § 826", the LLM can pull surrounding context automatically with legal_get_context.

Resource alternative. legal://norm/{norm_id} returns the single norm as a resource — useful when the client integrates resources better than tool outputs.