Code duello A code duello is a set of rules for a one - on - one combat , or duel . Codes duello regulate dueling and thus help prevent vendetta s between families and other social factions . They ensure that non - violent means of reaching agreement be exhausted and that harm be reduced , both by limiting the terms of engagement and by providing medical care . Finally , they ensure that the proceedings have a number of witnesses . The witnesses assure grieving members of factions of the fairness of the duel , and help provide testimony if legal authorities become involved . From the Roman Empire to Middle Ages . In Rome , the most famous duel was fought between three Horatii brothers and three Curiatii brothers and , respecting precise rules during the 7th century BC . , Mark Antony and Octavian also challenged each other to a personal duel , but this suggestion never came to fruition . The Lombards had dueling rituals too , often controlled by local judges . The Norse sagas give accounts of the rules of dueling in the Viking Age holmganga . The 1409 Flos Duellatorum of Italy is the earliest example of an actual code duello in Europe . Fechtbücher of Hans Talhoffer and other fifteenth century masters give rules for judicial duel s and " tournament rules " with varying degrees of detail . Renaissance . A morally acceptable duel would start with the challenger issuing a traditional , public , personal grievance , based on an insult , directly to the single person who offended the challenger . The challenged person had the choice of a public apology or other restitution , or choosing the weapons for the duel . The challenger would then propose a place for the " field of honour " . The challenged man had to either accept the site or propose an alternative . The location had to be a place where the opponents could duel without being arrested . It was common for the constables to set aside such places and times and spread the information , so " honest people can avoid unpatrolled places . " At the field of honor , each side would bring a doctor and seconds . The seconds would try to reconcile the parties by acting as go - betweens to attempt to settle the dispute with an apology or restitution . If reconciliation succeeded , all parties considered the dispute to be honorably settled , and went home . Each side would have at least one second ; three was the traditional number . If one party failed to appear , he was accounted a coward . The appearing party would win by default . The seconds and sometimes the doctor would bear witness of the cowardice . Swords were the typical weapon until the 17th century , when pistols became readily available . When using swords , the two parties would start on opposite sides of a square twenty paces wide . Usually the square was marked at the corners with dropped handkerchief s . Leaving the square was accounted cowardice . The opponents agreed to duel to an agreed condition . While many modern accounts dwell heavily on " first blood " as the condition , manuals of honor from the day universally deride the practice as dishonorable and unmanly . Far more common was a duel until either one party was physically unable to fight or the physician called a halt . While explicit duels to the death were rare , many duels ended in death of one or both combatants because of the wounds sustained . When the condition was achieved , the matter was considered settled with the winner proving his point and the loser keeping his reputation for courage . Irish Code Duello . Duelling with firearms grew in popularity in the 18th century , especially with the adoption of the Irish Code Duello , " adopted at the Clonmel Summer Assizes in 1777 for the government of duellists by the gentlemen of County Tipperary , County Galway , County Mayo , County Sligo and County Roscommon , and prescribed for general adoption throughout Ireland . " Typical weapons were cased duelling pistol s , tuned for identical appearance , reliability and accuracy . In America , the Irish code eventually supplanted the usual method of brutal hand - to - hand combat and gave the combat a respectable feel . However , since the combatants could not control guns as precisely as swords , gun duels had a greater chance of being fatal . Some duels miscarried because both opponents did not hear or see the starting signal . Agreeing to a signal was helpful . A custom had grown , before the Irish code , of deloping , discharging one ' s firearm in the ground ( usually to one side ) when two friends had quarrelled and one ( or both ) wished to end the duel without harming his opponent or appearing cowardly . This custom often resulted in accidents and the Irish Duello forbade it . Marquess of Queensberry . After just a few years many persons wrote rather forcefully that the Irish Code was far too deadly for the necessary business of discovering social positions among the military gentry . Those objecting to the Code Duello included such luminaries as Benjamin Franklin and Queen Victoria in whose day and realm the duel was already nearly extinct . Pugilism had been growing in popularity and technique in Venice since 12th century , and in England since 1615 , when a London armsmaster began offering public lessons in fisticuffs to the gentry . After many years , and several attempts by other men to write acceptable rules , John Graham Chambers wrote the " Marquess of Queensberry rules " in 1865 . They were published in 1867 . He intended them solely for " amateur matches , " a thinly veiled reference to bouts of fisticuffs between gentlemen . The authorities began to allow prize matches and amateur boxing under this new rule system when John Sholto Douglas , 9th Marquess of Queensberry endorsed its use . The new rules had a three - minute limit on rounds , required gloves , and forbade grappling and wrestling . The rules prevented permanent mutilation : They did not permit punches to the temples , neck or below the belt . They also forbade kicking , biting and eye gouging . The result was a viscerally satisfying fight with far less actual hazard than either a sword or gunfight . In other words , it became a nearly perfect vehicle for addressing matters of pride and insult . As a practical matter , the legal sport of pugilism replaced duelling for most English gentlemen near this time . Only the involved gentlemen ever needed to know the points of honour at stake . Duelling thereby moved underground and to ' sport ' and has stayed there . Southern US Code of Honor . In 1838 former governor of South Carolina John Lyde Wilson published " The Code of Honor ; or Rules for the Government of Principals and Seconds in Dueling " . The author later stated that at the time of writing he had never seen the Irish code . Generally similar in intent , the Code of Honor additionally provided for secrecy ( in view of laws punishing Duelists and , sometimes Seconds ) and enforcement ( to propel the disinclined ) . It counseled self - command and deprecated public resentment , and recommended silence with everyone except the second who would henceforth bear the insulted party ' s honor . A second not properly received could issue his own challenge . It advanced the concept of " posting " a public notice to degrade a scoundrel who refused to fight , or properly apologize , or participate at all . Southern duels persisted through the 1840s . Commonly held on sand bars in rivers where jurisdiction was unclear , they were rarely prosecuted .