Voluntary vs involuntary injury

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Often appears with: punishment of retaliation · false accusation · equity, mercy, and pardon · disgrace and infamy remission · crime and punishment

Usually: argument (1) · detachment (1)

Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) primary

Thomas, Aquinas, Saint · c. 1271–1273 (Part II-II written within this period)
PART II-II ("Secunda Secundae") > Scene i.]. Hence, as regards man, who has God above him, charity which unites him to God, is greater than mercy, whereby he supplies the defects of his neighbor. But of all the virtues which relate to our neighbor, mercy is the greatest, even as its act surpasses all others, since it belongs to one who is higher and better to supply the defect of another, in so far as the latter is deficient. (239/298)

Aquinas argues that if an accuser fails to prove his indictment, he must undergo retaliation because accusation places the accused in danger of severe punishment, except when the false charge was made through just error or ignorance.

FOURTH ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 68, Art. 4] Whether an Accuser Who Fails to Prove His Indictment Is Bound to the Punishment of Retaliation? Objection 1: It would seem that the accuser who fails to prove his indictment is not bound to the punishment of retaliation. For sometimes a man is led by a just error to make an accusation, in which case the judge acquit the accuser, as stated in Decret. II, qu. iii. [*Append. Grat.…