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For a man may have intercourse with a woman knowing who she is, yet
not from the motive of deliberate choice, but under the influence of passion;
[2]
in such a case, though he has committed injustice, he is not an
unjust man: for instance, he is not a thief, though guilty of theft, not an adulterer,
though he has committed adultery, and so forth.
[3]
The relation of Reciprocity to Justice has been stated already.
[4]
But we must not forget that the subject of our investigation is at once Justice in the
absolute sense and Political Justice. Political Justice means justice as between free and
(actually or proportionately) equal persons, living a common life for
the purpose of satisfying their needs. Hence between people not free and equal political
justice cannot exist, but only a sort of justice in a metaphorical sense. For justice can
only exist between those whose mutual relations are regulated by law, and law exists among
those between whom there is a possibility of injustice, for the administration of the law
means the discrimination of what is just and what is unjust. Persons therefore between
whom injustice can exist can act unjustly towards each other (although unjust
action does not necessarily involve injustice): to act unjustly meaning to assign
oneself too large a share of things generally good and too small a share of things
generally evil.
[5]
This is why we do not permit a man to
rule, but the law, because a man rules in his own interest,