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.
Read more about this topic: Code Duello
Famous quotes containing the words southern, code and/or honor:
“Archaeologists have uncovered six-thousand-year-old clay tablets from southern Babylonia that describe in great detail how the adults of that community found the younger generation to be insolent and disobedient.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
“Faultless honesty is a sine qua non of business life. Not alone the honesty according to the moral code and the Bible. When I speak of honesty I refer to the small, hidden, evasive meannesses of our natures. I speak of the honesty of ourselves to ourselves.”
—Alice Foote MacDougall (1867–1945)
“‘Tis on the living Envy feeds. She silent grows
When, after death, man’s honor is his guard.
So I, when on the pyre consumed I lie,
Shall live, for all that’s noblest will survive.”
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)