diff --git a/scripts/verify_ledger_json.js b/scripts/verify_ledger_json.js
index 8ca82ba0..ae74aa56 100755
--- a/scripts/verify_ledger_json.js
+++ b/scripts/verify_ledger_json.js
@@ -1,31 +1,34 @@
+'use strict';
+
 var fs = require('fs');
+var Amount = require('../src/js/ripple').Amount;
 var Ledger = require('../src/js/ripple/ledger').Ledger;
 
 function parse_options(from, flags) {
   var argv = from.slice(),
-      opts = {argv:argv};
+      opts_ = {argv: argv};
 
   flags.forEach(function(f) {
     // Do we have the flag?
     var flag_index = argv.indexOf('--' + f);
     // normalize the name of the flag
     f = f.replace('-', '_');
-    // opts has Boolean value for normalized flag key
-    opts[f] = !!~flag_index;
-    if (opts[f]) {
+    // opts_ has Boolean value for normalized flag key
+    opts_[f] = flag_index !== -1;
+    if (opts_[f]) {
       // remove the flag from the argv
       argv.splice(flag_index, 1);
     }
   });
-  return opts;
+  return opts_;
 }
 
 var opts = parse_options(process.argv.slice(2), // remove `node` and `this.js`
                         ['sanity-test']);
 
 if (opts.argv.length < 1) {
-  console.error("Usage: scripts/verify_ledger_json path/to/ledger.json");
-  console.error("       optional: --sanity-test (json>binary>json>binary)");
+  console.error('Usage: scripts/verify_ledger_json path/to/ledger.json');
+  console.error('       optional: --sanity-test (json>binary>json>binary)');
   process.exit(1);
 }
 
@@ -36,14 +39,27 @@ var ledger = Ledger.from_json(JSON.parse(json));
 // before finally serializing for hashing. This is mostly to expose any issues
 // with ripple-libs binary <--> json codecs.
 if (opts.sanity_test) {
-    console.log("All accountState nodes will be processed from " +
-                "json->binary->json->binary. This may take some time " +
-                "with large ledgers.");
+  console.log('All accountState nodes will be processed from ' +
+              'json->binary->json->binary. This may take some time ' +
+              'with large ledgers.');
 }
 
-console.log("Transaction hash in header:    " + ledger.ledger_json.transaction_hash);
-console.log("Calculated transaction hash:   " + ledger.calc_tx_hash().to_hex());
-console.log("Account state hash in header:  " + ledger.ledger_json.account_hash);
-console.log("Calculated account state hash: " + ledger.calc_account_hash(
-                                                 {sanity_test:opts.sanity_test})
-                                                   .to_hex());
+// To recompute the hashes of some ledgers, we must allow values that slipped in
+// before strong policies were in place.
+Amount.strict_mode = false;
+
+console.log('Transaction hash in header:    ' +
+             ledger.ledger_json.transaction_hash);
+console.log('Calculated transaction hash:   ' +
+             ledger.calc_tx_hash().to_hex());
+
+console.log('Account state hash in header:  ' +
+             ledger.ledger_json.account_hash);
+
+if (ledger.ledger_json.accountState) {
+  console.log('Calculated account state hash: ' +
+               ledger.calc_account_hash({sanity_test: opts.sanity_test})
+                                                      .to_hex());
+} else {
+  console.log('Ledger has no accountState');
+}