New-York tribune., 1921-12-04
French Controversy Over Duels
Results From Bonnevay Ruling
Minister of Justice Declares Contests of Honor Are
Criminal and Must Cease; Edict Recalls
Other Efforts to Stop Practice

is allowed by law to strike in his ov,
defense. But other dueIists bring out
the facts that both dueists are guilty.
OF premeditated intention 70 wou5ts]
or kill the adversary, which is unde-
niable. There are no French l.ws
which mention duels. and in past years
the laws have been interpreted differ.
emily by various courts. Now the lar.
on premeditated assault and battery
with intent to kill are being applied 70
the duelists. The question is put M
! by the defendants: rs there any real
intention to wound or kill? a Iarse
percentage Of duels that have besn
fought in France during the las. half
century were terminated without
drop of blood being she'd 1t has been
sufficient to show ones courage bv en-
pearing on the field and facing death
to satisfy some; and TO have the id.
versa1y there knowing that he can he
killed, to satisfy the honor of manv
In cases where man has been in
suited by another in public, if he did
not show a little courage he would bs
considered coward and his position
in society would be made so untenable
that he would be forced to emigrate,
Dueiing must remain, many believe,
either until human nature has improved
or until laws are made to punish these
minor offensss sevrrc,y
Dueiing was once & part of court
procedure in England, where the plain.
tiff and the def feniant fought before
the judge 10 see which was right, and
this law was abolished only in 1919.
Mr.. Georges Claretie. well known
devotee Of fencing, has written -
chronological history Of dueling IN
France in the Paris Figaro"
"Dueling was always under the pro.
lection of the kings he writes, "er
at least one could fight only with
their permission. Francis I would
not allow Jarnac and La Chatigneraie
to fight, but later Henry II gave his
permission, and La Chataigneraie was
killed. The King was so upset about
the result that he forbade duelinv
completely. The result was that, -
the French are recalcitrant, duels be
came more numerous than ever In
1868 the Council of Trent excommu-
nicated all duelists; in 1866 the order
OF BIeis and in 1879 that OF Moulins
made very severe penalties for duel
ing and stated that no more duelists
would be forgiven. But from 1889 &c
1905, in spite of these orders, more
than seven thousand were pardoned.
Dueling became an epidemic and people
went to Italy to learn how to fence,
Daily Duels Fought Under
Louis XIV and Rarely Punished
"Under Louis XIV daily duels wers
fought and were rarely punished. In
1869 judge was condemned to death
for killing captain, but 1t wss only
because the judge had butchered the
captain when he was down.
During the Revolution the new
code did not mention duels, although
they were frequent, and Marst. the
famous legislator who was killed in his
bathtub by Charlotte Corday, said that
duels were almost necessary. Ones
honor he said, is more important than
ones life, but the laws pay no atten-
ton TO it, But this contradictory man
proposed law whereby the fingers of
every duelist should be cut off.
project to forbid dueling in the time
of Napoleon Bonaparte was presented
to the State Council, but was refused
with this statement: There are Of
lenses which legal justice fails 10 pun
ish, and it is impossible for man to
have justice in these eases otherwise
than by a duel At the time Of the
Restoration dueling became more fire.
quent, but the Supreme Court could
find nothing in the laws to forbid it.
Savarin was one OF the judges, and
stated: Death on the dueling ground
is not a murder, for death had been
consented to beforehand And when
Cazalis was hit by De Barnave'e shot
he said: Was I not here for this"
"But later on after the death OF some
very prominent men" he writes, such
as d'Armand Carreli, killed by Girar-
din, the public opinion turned against
dueling and in 1887 the Supreme Court
offered the opinion that the code did
punish dueiists. But the question I'M
mediately arose, whicn decision should
the courts follow, the former one which
said the duel could not be punished,
or this last ruling. Then the question
arose as to the court in which the case
should be tried before the police court
or before jury. The answer wac that
if man were killed in duel the case
should be tried before a jury, in which
case she reasons for the duel could be
brought out and could be made to work.
on the jury's sympnthies; and IL q
man were simply wounded the duel
lists would be tried before the police
courts. where they would not be able
to show why they had fought, but
would have to answer guilty or not
guilty to the question whether they
had fought duel or not. This is the
ruling and method of application that
Mr.. Bonnevay is trying to enforce. ;.
"But in 1887 many of the courts Of