Cheating can only be punished when the victim initiates appeal. [definitional]
Ar subsrage (b), if either player has failed to query the Law Merchant or if the query establishes that at least one player has an outstanding judgment, then both traders play Cheat (which we may interpret as a refusal by the honest trader to trade); otherwise, both play Honest. … Ar subsrage (c), if both parties queried at substage (a) and exactly one of the two players Cheated at substage (b), then the victim appeals to the LM; otherwise, no appeal is filed. … At subsrage (d), if a valid appeal was filed, the LM awards damages of J to the aggrieved party. … At subsrage (e), the defendant pays the judgment J if and only if he has no other outstanding judgments.
PAUL R. MILGRO, PAUL R. MILGRO - THE ROLE O…, loc. 95