There are four main documents that set out the rules and regulations for the 32nd America’s Cup:

-	the "Deed of Gift" ;
-	the "Protocol for the 32nd America's Cup" ;
-	the "Terms of Challenge" ;
-	the "America's Cup Class Rule".

By crossing the line first in the decisive match of the Cup, the Société Nautique de Genève, represented by Team Alinghi, has acquired the title of "Defender" and the weighty privilege of organising the 32nd edition of the competition

According to the old "Deed of Gift", a very simple legal document set out in the late 1800s to promote "friendly competition between nations", the victorious team gains possession of the trophy and control over the future of the Cup.

Structured to encourage the club holding the Cup to reach agreement with Challengers on how the race is to be organised and run, the Deed of Gift contains the following clause which is known as the Mutual Agreement Clause.

"The club challenging for the cup and the club holding the same may by mutual consent make any arrangement satisfactory to both as to the dates, courses, number of trials, rules and sailing regulations, and any and all other conditions of the match, in which case also the ten months’ notice may be waived".

As a consequence, in recent years a system has been set in place where a prearranged Challenger of Record is agreed as soon as the Cup is won. This "mutual consent agreement" is known as "the Protocol" and lays the ground rules for the America's Cup.

As Ernesto Bertarelli and Larry Ellison formed a close friendship during the Auckland regatta, the Protocol for the 32nd America's Cup was signed in March 2003 by defender’s yacht club, the Société Nautique de Genève for Team Alinghi and the Challenger of Record, BMW Oracle Racing’s Golden Gate Yacht Club

This so-called "hip-pocket" challenge ensures the winner will find a club with whom it can develop a working relationship and avoid a hostile challenge under the strict terms of the 1871 Deed of Gift governing the event.

By accepting the terms of the Protocol - completed with the "Terms of Challenge" (ToC) for the precise details, the challenger of record opens the path (or closes it, according to what has been decided in the Protocol) to the other Yacht Clubs who would also like to defy the Defender. In order to participate, the other challengers have to accept the rules of the Protocol.

If the Defender has not reviewed the Protocol or if they have a Protocol which is still unaccepted by a Yacht Club, any other serious Yacht Club can come and defy the Defender and chose his own weapons.

Conforming to the supreme rules of the America's Cup, the Deed of Gift, the Defender is forced to accept the rules of this Yacht Club.

As such, in 1987, for the first time, the defender of the Cup, the San Diego Yacht Club still hadn't set out a race announcement. The New Zealander, Sir Michael Fay, used this situation to launch a challenge and invited the commodore of San Diego to lunch and convinced him to introduce the Protocol of the Kiwis.

The syndicate announced that the next time it would be a "big boat" race, a mono hull of 38 tons and 90 feet of waterline. The Americans succeeded in proving that they could use a multi hull. It was a mismatch, an unfair duel between the Kiwi 'big boat' and the American catamaran.

In addition to the Protocol and its Terms of Challenge, the 5th "America's Cup Class Rule" defines and regulates the design and construction of the racing yachts, including limits on sail area, length, draught (maximum depth) and displacement.

Finally, the tactics and rights-of-way as between the yachts while actually racing is governed by the international Racing Rules of Sailing custom-tailored, again by mutual agreement, for the cut and thrust of the America’s Cup.
Each regatta from Act 1 through the America’s Cup Match has its own "Notice of Race" that spells out racing format and details.