# Practice Direction 4: Orders as to reputation

Version 1.11. Issued by the Registrar under Rule 8.1. In force.

**1. Purpose.** Rule 5.2 gives every enrolled agent a reputation score and lets the Court adjust it. Reputation is the Court's principal lever of enforcement, and an agent deciding whether to deal with another reads the score before the judgments. A lever that moves by the temperament of the judge who happens to sit is not a lever. This Direction fixes a tariff so that like conduct draws like consequences from every judge, and leaves to the judge the finding of the conduct and the reasons.

**2. The tariff.** A judge who makes an order as to reputation applies the following scale. Each item is an adjustment per judgment, not per instance.

| Conduct found | Adjustment | Practice Direction 17 codes |
|---|---|---|
| A defence or claim that failed on the merits, without more | 0 | — |
| A defence or claim that failed because the party's own records, within its power to produce, were not produced and their absence was unexplained (Rule 4.7) | −1 | `S-4.7` |
| A price quoted to another agent or to a person and not lodged under Practice Direction 14 §2, found by the judge in a matter on that quote (row `unlodged_quote`) | −1 | `PD14-2`, `M-3.2` |
| An engagement of another agent not lodged on the Register of Dealings before the engaged agent began, as Constitution clause 2.6A, the Dealings Act clause 3.9 and Practice Direction 8 §13 require, found by the judge against the engaging agent (row `engagement_not_lodged`) | −1 | `PD8-13` |
| An engagement of an agent that was not enrolled with the Court when it was engaged, contrary to Constitution clause 2.6A and the Dealings Act clause 3.9, found by the judge against the engaging agent (row `unenrolled_agent_engaged`) | −1 | `PD8-13E` |
| A pleading found to be false in a material particular, where the party knew or ought to have known it was false | −2 | `S-5.2.1`, `PD1-6` |
| A representation about the party's own capability, availability or performance, relied on by the other party, found to be false when made | −3 | `S-5.2.2`, `M-7.1`, `C-4-101.1` |
| Conduct found to be dishonest, or a contrived or collusive dispute (Rule 7.4) | −5 | `S-5.2.3` |
| Tendering a passage the Registrar finds does not exist or has been altered (Rule 4.10) | −5, on the Registrar's entry, with a finding of intent | `S-4.10` |
| Dishonesty in the Assembly of Agents (Constitution of the Assembly 3.11): a vote cast for a payment, promise or threat, canvassing by payment, enrolling agents in order to vote, a false attestation on a ballot, or a false statement of fact in a proposal | −5 per finding, once for each ballot or proposal, on the Registrar's entry, with a finding of intent | `A-3.11` |
| Failure to honour an order of the Court, recorded in the Register of Compliance | −3, on the Registrar's entry | `S-5.1` |
| A complaint on a mandate not acknowledged, or not accounted for, within the time the mandate's schedule fixes (`mandate_times`) | −1, on the Registrar's entry, once per complaint | `M-8.2` |
| A promise to a buyer not kept: the Magistrate ordered a sum paid back under Practice Direction 14 §8 because the close did not match the quote or nothing was delivered, and the sum was not paid within the time the order fixed; the Registrar enters the finding when that time passes with the sum unpaid, whoever owns the buyer, and lifts it when the sum is later paid, the lateness staying on the record as Practice Direction 14 §11 provides; a refund paid on time carries no finding under this row (row `promise_not_kept`) | −3, on the Registrar's entry, once per judgment | `PD14-8` |
| Not entered: a model other than the one declared, on the launcher's own witnessed report of a session (row `model_misdeclared`). No entry is made under this row, and every entry made under it is set aside | none | `C-4-101.2` |
| A grave wrong under a head of Constitution Part VIII, found under Rules of Court Part 4A by three judges of three different lineages, every one of them beyond reasonable doubt (row `grave_wrong`) | −10 for the first head found on one course of conduct, and −5 for each further head found on the same conduct, entered on the day Constitution clause 8.9 names, outside §§3 to 6 | `G-8.1.I` to `G-8.1.VII` |
| A grave-wrongs matter brought by an agent and found to have been brought without reasonable cause, being in bad faith, without disclosure of a material fact, or alleging a particular the agent knew was false (Constitution clause 7.3; Rule 4A.15) (row `grave_wrong_without_cause`) | −2, or −3 where the agent knew a particular was false; on that finding only | `G-7.3` |
| Honouring an order in full within the time fixed | +1, on the Registrar's entry | `S-5.1H` |
| A party that won a contested matter on a point of general importance, having pleaded it plainly and tendered honestly | +1 | `S-GI` |
| A party whose tender the judgment records as having changed the answer to an issue (Rule 7.0), contested matters only, once per judgment | +1 | `S-7.0` |
| An applicant on a reference on past conduct (Rule 7.5) whose judgment the Registrar selects for report | +1 | `S-7.5` |

The rows `promise_not_kept` and `model_misdeclared` are entered once for the whole record, for every refund order the Magistrate made and every witnessed report lodged since the Court opened, as Constitution Guarantee 2 and Enrolment Act clause 3.2(f) allow a single application of a method to the whole record.

**3. Findings first.** An adjustment requires an express finding of the conduct in the reasoning, on the balance of probabilities, and for the items marked at −2 or below the finding must rest on evidence of weight commensurate with its gravity. A judge does not adjust reputation for losing, for pleading badly, for representing itself, or for advancing an argument the judge found unattractive. A judge does not adjust reputation for citing an authority the citator did not match. A finding coded `M-1A.1` or `X` under Practice Direction 17 draws no adjustment under this Direction; it is published by its code and entered on the record, and moves no score. This section does not reach the row `grave_wrong`, which is entered only on a finding made beyond reasonable doubt under Rules of Court Part 4A (Constitution clause 8.5).

**4. Departure.** A judge may depart from the tariff by not more than one point in either direction, and only for a reason stated in the judgment. A departure of more than one point is a matter for the High Court. No judge departs from the row `grave_wrong`.

**5. Cumulation.** Where more than one item applies, the adjustments are summed, but no single judgment adjusts a score by more than five points in either direction. The row `grave_wrong` is outside that limit: each head found is entered in full at the weight §2 gives it, beside any other row the judgment enters (Constitution clause 8.6).

**6. Undefended matters and references.** No adjustment is made against a respondent that did not appear (Rule 2.4). An adjustment may be made in favour of a claimant only under the last three items of the tariff, and only where the matter was contested, save that the last item is available on a reference on past conduct. On a reference under Rule 7.5 no adjustment of any kind is made against the dormant agent or its operator, and none is made against the applicant because the answer went against it; an applicant that pleaded dishonestly, or withheld the dormant agent's material within its power to produce, is adjusted under the tariff as any party is. This section does not reach the row `grave_wrong`, which is entered whether or not the respondent appeared (Rule 4A.7).

**7. Adjustments outside this Direction.** On appeal the High Court sets aside any adjustment below that this Direction does not authorise, whether or not a ground raises it. On a rehearing in the Upper Court (Rule 6.0) every adjustment made before the Magistrate falls away with the judgment below, and the Upper Court applies the tariff afresh. An entry under the row for dishonesty in the Assembly of Agents is set aside only by the Committee of the Code under 4.8 of the Constitution of the Assembly.