THE PROBLEM OF THE SUPERIOR DUELIST.

THE PROBLEM OF THE SUPERIOR DUELIST. Kingston and Wright acknowledge (at page 13) the problem of the duelist who excels at shooting or fencing since “too good a reputation for dueling might exclude you from the credit market.” Who would want to lend to some one who would kill you in a duel? Kingston and Wright have a partial answer, citing an article which argues that “many of the rules which governed the practice of dueling (the code duello) appear to have been designed precisely to increase the randomness of the outcome.” The problem applies to all prospective duelists. The rational thing to do is to have as little as possible to do with an accomplished duelist. I have always thought that dueling strengthened the hand of the local bully.