Dipak Misra, the judge who was part of the SC bench which upheld the constitutional validity of criminal defamation today, has given this memorable definition of ‘reputation’ in an earlier judgement: “It is a nobility in itself for which a conscientious man would never barter it with all the tea of China or for that matter all the pearls of the sea. The said virtue has both horizontal and vertical qualities. When reputation is hurt, a man is half-dead.”