All evils and therefore acts of adultery regarded in themselves are acts of the inner and outer man together. The inner man forms the intentions, the outer man puts them into practice. The nature of his acts regarded in themselves therefore depends upon the nature of the inner man in planning what the outer man does. But since the inner man and his intention cannot be seen by a person, each must be judged in court by what he says and does in accordance with the prescribed law and its prohibitions. The judge should also have regard to the inner meaning of the law.

Some examples may illustrate this. If, for instance, adultery is committed by an adolescent boy who does not yet know that adultery is a worse evil than fornication. If it is committed by a person who is extremely simple, or someone deprived of keen judgment by disease; or, as sometimes happens, by someone who has periods of madness, in which he is in the condition of the really delirious. Or again if it takes place when he is of unsound mind due to drunkenness, and so on. It is clear that then the inner man or mind is only present in the outer man in an irrational state. Acts of this kind by these people are called adultery by a rational person, but with regard to such circumstances. Yet the same man as judge holds their perpetrator culpable and punishes him according to the law. But whether after death these acts are imputed depends on the presence, nature and capability of the intellect in their will.