Back in the day, a duel now and then was common. I don’t know how you decided whether to use swords or pistols, but the objective was the same.
Nowadays, however, duels aren’t that common (at least, not where I live. I sometimes see them on TV, but the duelers are always wearing a costume that makes me believe the show is a period piece). But, what if two people decided to have a duel? Would a duel nowadays be legal? I would guess the winner would be charged with murder.
I’m pretty sure that the actual act of duelling is also illegal, even if no one is killed/maimed/castrated. But I could be wrong.
Duels to the death are illegal, and were illegal during many historical periods as well. They were fought anyway, in secret, in places where the authorities couldn’t easily see or respond. The principle was accepted if not loved, and police didn’t make duel prevention their first priority.
Non-lethal duels are also generally illegal, as both parties are still committing assault. Special provisions are made for organized sporting events such as boxing.
You could always just arm-wrestle.
Duels which could result in fatalities were almost always illegal, but when gentlemen made the laws and considered themselves outside of them, they were frequent and often romanticised. You might want to mine the career of Alexander Hamilton for its particularly ferrous rewards.
Duels had a set of rules, always malleable, but which followed a basic set. When it was serious, the rules were always exploited in some way. One of the most notorious American duelers, who might well be considered a serial killer in the modern age, was Jim Bowie. He had the good graces to go down at the Alamo and is thus recorded as a hero, but if half of the stories about that guy are true, he was f-----d up.
Bowie apparently liked to piss people off until they demanded “satisfaction.” According to the rules, once propositioned, Bowie was allowed to name the terms, and after he perfected his practice, they usually involved the nasty near-gladius which bore his name. One account I read involved a completely darkened room, with knives. Another had Bowie and his opponent tied sitting on a log over a creek, well within slashing distance, with knives. I hope they are untrue–they came from a tripe book which probably should never have been printed early this past century.
The main difference between American duels and British duels was that of orderliness. The Brits were there to settle a score and maintain order. Americans seem to have used the opportunity to marshal their forces so that an honest brawl could break out at any time. That’s not to say that one folk did not emulate the other at times, but that’s my opinion on the prevailing trends.
Today, the duel still has some attraction. Those bullshit weighing-in sessions before heavyweight fights are certainly taking on the quality of the poorly-managed style of classic American duels, where it is now almost accepted that the fighters’ “seconds” are gonna do some on-camera battle. About ten years ago, I recall that Mickey Rourke challenged some other no-talent fool to a boxing match in the British style–but it looked mostly like PR to me, and I paid no attention to the probably nonexistent result.
Anybody else notice that they always say “take ten PACES, turn and fire,” but then show them counting out ten STEPS?