During the era when Britain transported convicts to its colonies, judges often estimated the value of thefts to be 39 shillings, because 40 shillings would require the death penalty.
Likewise, it's said that during the trial of Yaoya Oshichi, the judge repeatedly asked her if she was 15 years old, because being 16 years old meant that she was subject to the death penalty.
Is there a term for this kind of deliberate misestimation, which might be used like "The judge ___ by stating that the thief had stolen goods to the value of 39 shillings".
The closest word I can think of is fudge, which is less harsh than saying that someone outright lied.
Best Answer
We have 2 (or 3) requirements:
(1) Must imply that it was Deliberate.
(2) Must imply that the Estimate was less than actual.
(3) Must imply that the other Party (not Self) was the beneficiary. (It is not in the title of the question, but this is what the Judges were aiming for)
Now, "Lowballed" satisfies (1) & (2), but may imply that Self was the beneficiary.
Here are some alternatives which satisfy (2) only:
We may try to indicate (3) with "Benign" :
If we allow an adverb, then the following may satisfy all 3 requirements:
If we allow an adjective, then we may use it to Describe the Judge: