One hundred years ago
When it became evident that duelling was dead in England, and that a gentleman might refuse to be killed or to commit murder because somebody else had told a lie about him, men said that it would shortly be necessary to establish Courts of Honour, which would give some sort of redress in cases in which the Courts of Law were powerless. The sug- gestion was never acted on, for it was found that in the Army a Court of In- quiry was a very fair Court of Honour, and that in civil life it was possible so to use the ordinary Courts as to obtain a redress at a price which, if heavy, was lighter than the loss of a limb or a life. Libel trials have become frequent, they are amusing, the public watches them, and the Courts have begun to regard them as causes celebres — or, as State Trials ordered by King Demos. They are, consequently, conducted in solemn form and at vast expense, the newspapers are choked with rubbishy gossip, and real suitors pleading for redress of substantial wrongs are refused a hearing for months.
Spectator, 16 December 1882
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