y of mind proceeds to
accuse someone, because he believes too readily what he hears, and
this pertains to rashness; while, on the other hand sometimes a man
is led to make an accusation on account of an error for which he is
not to blame. All these things must be weighed according to the
judge's prudence, lest he should declare a man to have been guilty of
calumny, who through levity of mind or an error for which he is not
to be blamed has uttered a false accusation.

Reply Obj. 2: Not everyone who hides the truth about a crime is
guilty of collusion, but only he who deceitfully hides the matter
about which he makes the accusation, by collusion with the defendant,
dissembling his proofs, and admitting false excuses.

Reply Obj. 3: Evasion consists in withdrawing altogether from the
accusation, by renouncing the intention of accusing, not anyhow, but
inordinately. There are two ways, however, in which a man may rightly
desist from accusing without committing a sin--in one way, in the
very process of accusation, if it come to his knowledge that the
matter of his accusation is false, and then by mutual consent the
accuser and the defendant acquit one another--in another way, if the
accusation be quashed by the sovereign to whom belongs the care of
the common good, which it is intended to procure by the accusation.
_______________________

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., ad can. Si quem poenituerit.] Therefore the
accuser who fails to prove his indictment is not bound to the
punishment of retaliation.

Obj. 2: Further, if the punishment of retaliation ought to be
inflicted on one who has accused unjustly, this will be on account of
the injury he has done to someone--but not on account of any injury
done to the person of the accused, for in that case the sovereign
could not remit this punishment, nor on account of an injury to the
commonwealth, because then the accused could not acquit him.
Therefore the punishment of retaliation is not due to one who has
failed to prove his accusation.

Obj. 3: Further, the one same sin does not de