DUEL

duel. 1.TRIAL BY COMBAT. 2. A single combat; specif., a prearranged combat with deadly

weapons fought between  two  or  more persons under  prescribed  rules, usu.  in  the  presence  of  at

least two witnesses, to resolve a previous quarrel or avenge a deed. • In England and the United

States, death resulting from a duel is treated as murder, and seconds may be liable as accessories.

— Also termed monomachy; single combat. Cf. MUTUAL COMBAT. [Cases: Homicide    537.]

“[A]  duel  which  did  not  end  in  death  was  only  a  misdemeanour,  till  the  passing  of  Lord

Ellenborough’s  Act,  43  Geo.  3,  c.  58,  passed  in  1803  ….  A  duel  which  did  end  fatally  might be

either  murder  or  manslaughter,  according  to  the  following  distinctions: —  If the  duel  was  on  a

sudden  falling  out,  if  the  parties  fought  in  hot  blood  and  on  the  spot  and  one  was  killed,  the

offence was only manslaughter, however aggravated the case might be…. If a fatal duel took place

when the parties were in cool blood, it was held to be murder, and of this there has never been any

doubt  whatever  in  this  country,  though  juries  not  unfrequently  acquitted  in  such  cases  if  they

sympathized  with  the  prisoner.”  3  James  Fitzjames  Stephen,  A  History  of  the  Criminal  Law  of

England 100 (1883).

“Dueling  is distinguished  from  other offenses in that it has none of the elements of sudden

heat  and  passion,  and  is usually  carried  out  with  some  formality.  A  duel  has  been  distinguished

from an ‘affray’ in that an affray occurs on a sudden quarrel while a duel is always the result of

design.” 28A C.J.S. Dueling § 2, at 154 (1996). [Blacks Law 8th]