Now that justice has been defined and described, it is necessary to add that a man acts justly or unjustly only when his acts have been performed voluntarily. Actions can be just or unjust only when they are voluntary and it is only in regard to voluntary acts that the moral question arises. Bad actions which lack the voluntary elements must be considered acts with an unjust effect but without an unjust quality.
As has already been shown, a voluntary action is:
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An act which was in the agent's power to do or not to do.
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An act in which the agent performed with full knowledge of the person affected, the instrument being used, and the object being sought.
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An act in which no particular was determined by accident or under constraint, (e.g., if A takes B's hand and strikes C, B does not act voluntarily since the act was not within his power).
An involuntary action is:
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Performed in ignorance, or
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performed without ability on the part of the agent to prevent it, or
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performed under compulsion.
Moreover, there is a distinction between an unjust act and a man who acts unjustly. The motives behind an act can render the agent unjust even if the act itself is unexceptionable. (e.g., Before going on a trip, A leaves some money in the safe keeping of B. When A returns, B gives the money back, but does so reluctantly and only because he fears the consequences. It cannot be said that B is behaving justly; at best he has done the right thing by accident.).
Men sometimes act voluntarily by deliberate choice and sometimes not, thus there can be different degrees of responsibility for just and unjust actions, and in certain situations man cannot be held fully responsible for actions with a bad or unjust effect.
