Accuracy and restraint preserve integrity.

Purpose

This principle protects trust in records and in those who create and maintain them. Integrity depends not only on correctness, but also on discipline in what is said, claimed, or implied.

Principle

Accuracy and restraint preserve integrity.

Meaning

Recording must aim to represent events, teachings, and decisions faithfully. At the same time, recorders must avoid exaggeration, assumption, speculation, or extending meaning beyond what is known or witnessed.

Accuracy without restraint can still distort. Restraint without accuracy can hide truth. Both are required.

Accuracy Requires

• Careful listening and faithful representation.
• Distinguishing between fact, interpretation, and opinion.
• Identifying uncertainty honestly.
• Correcting mistakes when discovered.
• Avoiding selective quotation that changes meaning.

Restraint Requires

• Not claiming authority beyond one’s standing.
• Not presenting partial knowledge as complete.
• Not expanding scope beyond what was intended.
• Respecting limits on sensitive or protected knowledge.
• Avoiding dramatic or strategic framing that pressures outcomes.

Why Integrity Matters

• Trust allows law to function across generations.
• Communities rely on records to understand what occurred.
• Weak integrity invites conflict, confusion, and external misuse.
• Strong integrity protects both the record and the recorder.

Common Threats to Integrity

• Filling gaps with assumption.
• Editing to favor an outcome.
• Reporting conclusions without process.
• Removing statements from their lawful boundaries.
• Treating uncertainty as weakness instead of honesty.

Examples

• Writing “it was decided” when discussion was incomplete.
• Presenting a personal interpretation as a collective view.
• Omitting disagreement to create artificial unity.
• Extending a local matter to national scale without authority.

Safeguards

• State clearly what is known, unknown, and inferred.
• Invite verification and correction.
• Maintain original versions where possible.
• Separate record from commentary.
• Ensure witnessing for important proceedings.

Cross-references

• Recording requires careful attention to accuracy.
• Errors must be identified and corrected.
• Selective recording distorts meaning.
• Verification strengthens trust.
• Method Matters as Much as Content
• Context Must Accompany All Records

Notes

Future development may include ethical guidelines for recorders and editors.