Hello, my name in Inigo Montoya...

[Lotan]

First off, I'd like to specify that this inquiry is COMPLETLY HYPOTHETICAL

[Lotan]

Oops, pushed enter by mistake. At at rate, would any of you actually fight a real duel if given the opportunity or provocation? Again, I'd like to reiterate the speculative nature of this post .

[Iwant2bafencer]

It all depends on the situation. I wouldn't kill someone say for dishonoring my family, I would simply get our honor back ten fold and kill them that way.

It's still legal in some states here in the U.S. to duel.

[ShadowHuntr]

well...even though it is legal, if you were to kill them you would still be charged with murder i would think. especailly in the time we live, if 2 people agree to fight to the death our society would want revenge on that.

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

For my honor? Maybe. To defend a me ladies honor? To the death! Love, money and honor are one of the things that are worth killing and dying for. Especially love.

[achilleus]

For my honor? Maybe. To defend a me ladies honor? To the death! Love, money and honor are one of the things that are worth killing and dying for. Especially love.

How can 3 things (love, money, and honor) be 'one of the things'?

And as for me in a duel, sure.

As long as my opponent had a knife, and I had a flamethrower or similar weapon.

Otherwise, hell no.

[Soldier]

If somebody attacked (physicaly/mentally/emotionally) my biological sister, any one of my 'honorary' sisters, or my girlfriend, badly enough, I wouldn't hesitate to hunt them down and kill them.

Does that count?

[mrgenius]

hmm... this is a tough question. I suppose once i became really good, then i might fight a duel with someone much less skilled with the intention to just hit wound them, and dishonor them instead of killing them, as i very much dislike killing.

[CutLass]

If somebody attacked (physicaly/mentally/emotionally) my biological sister, any one of my 'honorary' sisters, or my girlfriend, badly enough, I wouldn't hesitate to hunt them down and kill them.

Does that count?

You forgot your mother, daughters, your other female relatives, your father, brother, 'honorary' brothers, best friends, fellow soldiers, and other people for whom you have a deep and caring respect for. How come?

[fixxmyweapon]

If it was for defense of...of whatever, then sure. My adrenaline would get me through it. If it was for the hell of it, nuh uh. Pointy things that can slice my guts creep me out. Kind of ironic...

[epeefencer74]

Depends on weapons choosen. If its meele weapons, sure thing for any reason whatsoever. if its ranged weapons then never, I'm not as good a shot as I am a hand-to-hand combatant.

[Soldier]

You forgot your mother, daughters, your other female relatives, your father, brother, 'honorary' brothers, best friends, fellow soldiers, and other people for whom you have a deep and caring respect for. How come?

Don't have any daughters yet. Suppose I did leave out my mother. As for the male counterparts, I pretty much trust them to be able to take care of themselves.

I suppose I was talking about the primary ones I have an instinct to watch out for. Not a slight to any of the other people I know; those were just the ones I'd get into a duel over first.

This really isn't sounding very coherent. Maybe it has something to do with the way my head's spinning. I think I'll go to bed.

[ArcherUK]

I've been there, and I would say that I have and would defend my family / friends.

[Inquartata]

Duelling is not 'legal' anywhere in the US, it's just not proscribed by name in most state statutes. It would still fall afoul of the laws on murder, attempted murder, assault, conspiracy, and the like.

Anyway, I've always thought that it would be an interesting experience to have...once. And I'm talking something along the lines of Nadi's duel, not Burr-Hamilton, or that of the "Mignons". Much less that one fought from hot-air balloons over Paris, with blunderbusses!

But on second thought, just think of the fortunes waiting to be made by us all, as we hire out our services as professional "champions" to the unskilled who receive challenges! Nothing like fear of one's life to make one pay well. And we could turn the FIE into a guild, so that if any of us ever had to face each other we could arrange a good fight with unclear results so that we could stay on payroll indefinitely---rather like the mercenary armies of the Italian Wars in the 15th and 16th centuries...

[Schiavona]

Should we start calling you 'Hawkwood'?

I got dinged for this!?!?!? Man, some people. What's wrong with Sir John Hawkwood?

[The0ne]

I wouldn't fight in a duel. If you want to kill or wound someone, do it with maximum efficiency, like tell the other person that you challenge them to a duel, with swords, and then in combat pull a cool rambo trick like throw him a gernade and yell "let's play hot potato!!"

[Lady Cristina]

Well in the US I think you could claim self-defense if your opponent had a similar weapon and training with it if you used a sword. Also all you really need is a good lawyer.

[PeterGustafsson]

Hi!

If somebody attacked (physicaly/mentally/emotionally) my biological sister, any one of my 'honorary' sisters, or my girlfriend, badly enough, I wouldn't hesitate to hunt them down and kill them.

Does that count?

No.

That is not a duel, that is revenge.

Peter Gustafsson

[Inquartata]

Well in the US I think you could claim self-defense if your opponent had a similar weapon and training with it if you used a sword. Also all you really need is a good lawyer.

Sure, you can claim anything. But the precedent on this sort of thing is well established. If you agree to appear at the appointed time and place and accept a weapon and participate, this demonstrates premeditation. ( Under the old, now-deleted duelling laws merely accepting a challenge sufficed to make you as guilty as the challenger; today you might well receive lesser charges than the instigator, but you'd still be charged. )

Now, a rencontre might prove more problematic for the prosecution. ( It was invented as a means of doing just that when the anti-duelling edicts in Europe began to be applied seriously, so it'd probably work almost as well today. )

[sabreur]

Under the old, now-deleted duelling laws

Don't assume they are off the books. Laws don't expire unless they are written that way.

I once challenged an advocate of classical fencing to a sabre duel, because he claimed that sport fencers had no honor. He backed down, but I would have gone through with it (among other things, I own the pair of sabres we would have used, and unless you were pretty lucky with a point attack, or hit the jugular or other major blood vessel with a cut, you would be hard pressed to kill or even badly hurt anyone with them. I was confident that he wouldn't be able to touch me, and that I would be able to control the bout to avoid hurting him too badly...).

Cheers, MR