All the rules we know (21 million btc, ...) come from the first implementations of the Satoshi client? There is not a white paper for all the validation rules?
Yes, the white paper gave an overall description of the system, but the validation rules where first specified by the client.
It's been criticized at the time since the whitepaper was released before the client and interested receivers of the mail couldn't plainly understand how it worked.
Link to the thread.