diff --git a/go/composer/composer.go b/go/composer/composer.go
index 69b729e..dd224cf 100644
--- a/go/composer/composer.go
+++ b/go/composer/composer.go
@@ -135,13 +135,17 @@ type ManifestRead struct {
 }
 
 // Machine is one machine composed: whether it composes (resolves, at DepthResolve), why not, the node-engine
-// validator's problems and the composition's refusals (DepthCompose), and its declared paths when asked.
+// validator's problems and the composition's refusals (DepthCompose), and its declared paths when asked. NotJudged says,
+// in words, why the composer did not judge the machine (an older node-engine's input that does not say how it composes,
+// novox/hq ADR 0593 §9): the machine is then neither composed nor refused, and a reader decides by this field alone,
+// never by the words of Reason.
 type Machine struct {
-	Composes bool     `json:"composes"`
-	Reason   string   `json:"reason,omitempty"`
-	Problems []string `json:"problems,omitempty"`
-	Refusals []string `json:"refusals,omitempty"`
-	Declared []Path   `json:"declared,omitempty"`
+	Composes  bool     `json:"composes"`
+	NotJudged string   `json:"not_judged,omitempty"`
+	Reason    string   `json:"reason,omitempty"`
+	Problems  []string `json:"problems,omitempty"`
+	Refusals  []string `json:"refusals,omitempty"`
+	Declared  []Path   `json:"declared,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // Path is one path a declaration puts on the machine, with its kind (the resource's type), owner, group and mode as
diff --git a/go/delivery/compose_candidate.go b/go/delivery/compose_candidate.go
index 25d2a17..84cdefd 100644
--- a/go/delivery/compose_candidate.go
+++ b/go/delivery/compose_candidate.go
@@ -31,6 +31,12 @@ const (
 	// starting): no module is named, Refused says why in words, and the checker takes it as a node that did not answer
 	// (ComposeNoAnswer, ADR 0593 §9), deciding by this verdict and never by the words.
 	ComposeCandidateUnready = "unready"
+	// ComposeCandidateNotJudged is the verdict for a node the checker's sandbox composed and could not judge (an older
+	// node-engine's input that does not say how it composes, novox/hq ADR 0593 §9): no module is named, Refused says why in
+	// words, and the checker names the node with them and passes the check with that warning, never silent and never a
+	// failure of the change. The checker decides by this verdict, never by the words (ADR 0601 §4's kind: a contract is a
+	// field, not a phrase).
+	ComposeCandidateNotJudged = "not-judged"
 
 	// The states of one module's composition with the candidate: composed (Digest set), refused by the candidate
 	// (Words set), or held, refused without the candidate too (Words set), which counts toward no verdict.
@@ -115,13 +121,13 @@ func (a ComposeCandidateAnswer) check() error {
 	if a.Took < 0 {
 		return fmt.Errorf("delivery: the answer of %s took %d ms", a.Node, a.Took)
 	}
-	if a.Verdict == ComposeCandidateUnready && a.Refused == "" {
-		return fmt.Errorf("delivery: %s is not ready to compose and its answer says no why", a.Node)
+	if (a.Verdict == ComposeCandidateUnready || a.Verdict == ComposeCandidateNotJudged) && a.Refused == "" {
+		return fmt.Errorf("delivery: %s's answer is %s and says no why", a.Node, a.Verdict)
 	}
 	if a.Refused != "" {
-		if len(a.Modules) > 0 || a.Verdict != ComposeCandidateRefused && a.Verdict != ComposeCandidateUnready {
-			return fmt.Errorf("delivery: %s could not compose the candidate (%s), and its answer names modules or is neither %s nor %s",
-				a.Node, a.Refused, ComposeCandidateRefused, ComposeCandidateUnready)
+		if len(a.Modules) > 0 || a.Verdict != ComposeCandidateRefused && a.Verdict != ComposeCandidateUnready && a.Verdict != ComposeCandidateNotJudged {
+			return fmt.Errorf("delivery: %s could not compose the candidate (%s), and its answer names modules or is neither %s, %s nor %s",
+				a.Node, a.Refused, ComposeCandidateRefused, ComposeCandidateUnready, ComposeCandidateNotJudged)
 		}
 		return nil
 	}
diff --git a/go/delivery/compose_candidate_test.go b/go/delivery/compose_candidate_test.go
index 7c66dce..63e4e1d 100644
--- a/go/delivery/compose_candidate_test.go
+++ b/go/delivery/compose_candidate_test.go
@@ -78,6 +78,23 @@ func TestComposeCandidateAndComposedPlanRoundTripAndRefuse(t *testing.T) {
 	if _, err := EncodeComposeCandidateAnswer(unready); err == nil {
 		t.Error("an unready answer naming modules was encoded")
 	}
+	// A node the sandbox did not judge: its own verdict, with words and no module (ADR 0593 §9, ADR 0601 §4).
+	notJudged := ComposeCandidateAnswer{Node: "ace", Candidate: key, Verdict: ComposeCandidateNotJudged, Refused: "its node-engine sends no running state"}
+	if raw, err := EncodeComposeCandidateAnswer(notJudged); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("a not-judged answer was not encoded: %v", err)
+	} else if back, err := DecodeComposeCandidateAnswer(raw); err != nil || back.Verdict != ComposeCandidateNotJudged {
+		t.Errorf("a not-judged answer read back as %+v, %v", back, err)
+	}
+	for name, mutate := range map[string]func(*ComposeCandidateAnswer){
+		"no why":      func(a *ComposeCandidateAnswer) { a.Refused = "" },
+		"modules too": func(a *ComposeCandidateAnswer) { a.Modules = good.Modules },
+	} {
+		a := notJudged
+		mutate(&a)
+		if _, err := EncodeComposeCandidateAnswer(a); err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("a not-judged answer with %s was encoded", name)
+		}
+	}
 	if _, err := DecodeComposeCandidateAnswer([]byte(strings.Replace(string(raw), `"took"`, `"other":1,"took"`, 1))); err == nil {
 		t.Error("an answer with an unknown key was read")
 	}