The New International Encyclopædia/Dueling
DUELING (Fr. duel, from Lat. duellum, a
contest between two, duo). A duel is a
prearranged combat between two persons, in which
deadly weapons are used. It generally takes place
in the presence of witnesses (called seconds), who
regulate the mode of fighting, place the weapons
in the hands of the combatants, and enforce rules
agreed upon. While dueling prevailed in
antiquity, there is no doubt that the modern private
duel grew out of the judicial duel. (See
,
or .) In France it became
very common after the famous challenge of Francis
I. to his rival Charles V., in 1528. After this
every man of France seemed to think that he
was called upon to use his sword in defending his
honor against the slightest imputation. Some
kings endeavored to suppress, while others
promoted dueling. Within eighteen years, in the
reign of Henry IV., it is said, no less than 4000
persons fell in duels. Rigid measures were passed,
but were rarely enforced. Up to the present time
duels are much more common in France than
elsewhere, but fatal results are infrequent.

In Germany dueling prevails but little
outside the army, navy, and the universities. In the
students' contests the vital parts of the
contestants are so protected that serious injury
seldom occurs. In but few places do the laws
permit duels, but in a number of university

cities there is no pretense to enforce the laws.
In every German regiment there is a court of
honor, to determine all involved points of
personal or regimental honor, and to decide upon
the procedure demanded by the circumstances.
Where the result is a duel, and the civil authorities
do not take any cognizance of the affair,
the military authorities themselves rarely act.
It is a point of honor, however, with the individual
officer to satisfy the regimental code, regardless
of any punishment, civil or military, that
may afterwards he meted out to him. The practice
of dueling is common throughout all the
armies of Continental Europe, although in most
countries it is prohibited hy law.

From the time of Queen Elizabeth various
legislative attempts have been made in Great
Britain to put an end to dueling, but without
avail. Under the common law, the act of killing
in a duel is regarded as murder, however fair
the duel may have been; but so long as public
opinion approved the duel it was generally found
impossible to induce a jury to convict. In 1844
rigid army rules were established to prevent
dueling, and within the last half-century but few
duels have occurred in England.

How common dueling formerly was, both in
Great Britain and America, may be inferred
from the number of prominent political leaders
who participated in duels. The dukes of York,
Norfolk, Richmond, and Wellington, lords
Shelburne, Talbot, Lauderdale, Townshend, Paget,
Londonderry. Castlereagh, and Fox, Pitt, Sheridan,
Canning, Hastings, Grattan, Curran, and
O'Connell all fought duels. In the United States,
Charles Lee and John Laurens, Cadwallader and
Conway, General McIntosh and Gwinnett, of the
Revolutionary period, and Burr and Hamilton,
Jackson and Dickinson, Benton and Lucas, Clay
and Randolph, De Witt Clinton and Swartout,
and Cilley and Graves, fought duels. In no part
of the world was dueling so earnestly engaged in
as in America. Combats under all sorts of
conditions, and with every conceivable variety of
weapon, and in the great majority of instances
fights fatal to one or both combatants were of
frequent occurrence, and largely because of this
was precipitated the legislation which finally
succeeded in stamping out the custom.

Laws now exist in all States of the Union
against dueling. In some cases the punishment
is death, in others imprisonment, and in others
disqualification to hold office. A bill prohibiting
dueling in the District of Columbia was passed
in 1839.

At the beginning of the twentieth century the
custom was almost universally prohibited by
law, although countenanced, if not actually
demanded, by officers, both naval and military,
professional men and the upper circles generally,
of Continental European society. Organized
efforts are now being made, however, to attack the
custom in its own stronghold and among the people
who still practice and cherish its traditions.

The International League, inaugurated in 1900
by Prince Alfonso of Bourbon and Austria-Este,
has been organized with the declared
intention of “setting right in the acceptation of
society the sense of the words cowardice and
courage, when used in connection with dueling.”
The French branch of the league is under the
direction of M. Joseph du Bourg, and although

its influence is as yet very limited, it has had
the support of M. Paul de Cassagnac, formerly
a well-known duelist, and was considerably
aided by the refusal, in 1901, of Lieut.-Col. the
Marquis d'Elbée to accept the challenge of the
Marquis de Chauvelin. Early in 1902 the league
succeeded in forming a tribunal of honor in
Paris, which consists of fourteen members, six of
whom are military or naval officers, and whose
duties are to decide all disputed points without
recourse to the duel. In the French provinces
similar tribunals have also been organized, and
have already justified their existence. The
anti-duelist movement in Germany is under the active
direction of the Prince of Löwenstein, and is very
strong numerically and influentially. Its
membership includes noblemen, soldiers, civilians, and
university professors and students. The league
publishes a representative periodical, and is
championed by nearly every prominent
newspaper in the Empire. In Italy, the Marquis
Crispolti has been intrusted with the leadership
of the movement, which, however, was not
commenced until late in 1902. On February 14,
1902, the Spanish Republican Fusion Party, at
Valencia, passed a resolution condemning the
duel as contrary to civilization, and forbidding
members of the party from taking any part in a
duel, either as principal or second.