It might be imagined that if the man who murders another has to be murdered himself by another man, who thus also becomes a murderer, it would end by everyone being killed except the last man.
This is not so. When a civilian has murdered another in fair fight, the man appointed to murder this murderer does not become a murderer, he is an executioner, and is paid for murdering the other man, and the incident closes.
Whatever wrong a man receives from another, he must not fight him. He must not even slap his face. That is an assault and wrong.
He must accept a sum of money considered equivalent to the wrong done him.
Some men are not satisfied with this. They consider receiving money from their opponent a degradation, and even the suggestion of such a course, an insult.
In countries where duelling is still allowed, they have a solution—the duel.
CHAPTER XXXV
REMARKS ON DUELLING