metaconstraint
Metaconstraint is a higher-order constraint that governs the creation, selection, and enforcement of other constraints within a system. It operates at a meta-level, specifying how constraints themselves should be formulated, combined, prioritized, and checked. In constraint programming and optimization, metaconstraints are used to control the search process, limit the growth of the constraint set, and enforce properties such as tractability, recoverability, or safety. For example, a metaconstraint might require that any added constraint be non-redundant with existing constraints, or that the cumulative effect of constraints does not exceed a predefined complexity bound. Metaconstraints can also encode preferences or priorities, guiding solvers toward solutions that satisfy higher-order criteria.
In other domains, metaconstraints appear where decisions about which normative constraints to impose are themselves subject
Related terms include constraint satisfaction problem, constraint programming, meta-constraint, and higher-order logic.