By an ancient law of Sweden, if a man told another that he was inferior to any other man, or had not the heart of a man, and the other replied, “I am as good a man as yourself,” a meeting was to follow. If the aggressor came to the ground, but did not find the offended, the latter was to be considered dishonoured, and held unfit to give testimony in any cause, and deprived moreover of the power to make a will. But if, on the other hand, the insulted party came forward, and the offending party did not make his appearance, the former was to call him aloud by name three times, and, if he did not appear, make a mark upon the ground, when the offender would be held as infamous and false. When both parties met, and the offended was killed, his antagonist had to pay a half compensation for his death; but, if the aggressor succumbed, his fate was to be attributed to temerity and an unguarded expression, therefore his death called for no compensation. In Norway, any gentleman who refused satisfaction to another was said to have _lost his law_, and could not be admitted as evidence upon oath. According to the Danish laws, it was held that force is a better arbiter in contestations than words; and in the judicial combats, which frequently arose on the slightest provocation, no champion was allowed to fight in the cause of another, however feeble or unskilled in arms he might be: women were not even allowed a proxy to defend them, but obliged to defend their honour personally. In such cases, to afford the woman a better chance, the man who had offended her was obliged to get into a pit up to his waist, by which means his Amazonian opponent could wheel round him and strike him on the head with a sling or a leather thong to which was suspended a heavy stone; the male combatant was armed with a club, and if he missed her three times, or struck the ground instead of her, he was declared to be vanquished. The Scandinavian combatants frequently selected small islands for their meetings, to prevent either of the parties from fleeing; these islands were called _Holms_, and the duels _Holms-gang_. Sometimes a hide seven ells long was spread upon the ground; at others, the lists were enclosed by circular stakes, or marked off with stones, to circumscribe their limits: whoever stepped beyond this barrier, or was beaten out of the circle, was considered conquered. The _kamping matches_ of our Norfolk and Suffolk peasantry are traces of these exercises, which were called _kempfs_. In Sweden, gentlemen fighting a duel were sentenced to death, and the memory of the deceased declared infamous. On other occasions, when the meeting had not proved fatal, the parties were condemned to two years’ imprisonment on bread and water, and obliged to pay a heavy fine.