SYG = legalized dueling?

[onenote]

9. This may come as a surprise to some, but SYG was applied

by some states as long ago as the 1870s. There has always been a division among the states between those that followed the "duty to retreat" doctrine and those that did not. The Supreme Court, in 1921, in a opinion by no less than Justice Holmes, ruled that stand your ground applied to federal cases, making the following statement:

Many respectable writers agree that, if a man reasonably believes that he is in immediate danger of death or grievous bodily harm from his assailant, he may stand his ground, and that, if he kills him, he has not succeeded the bounds of lawful self-defense. That has been the decision of this Court. Beard v. United States, 158 U. S. 550, 158 U. S. 559. Detached reflection cannot be demanded in the presence of an uplifted knife. Therefore, in this Court at least, it is not a condition of immunity that one in that situation should pause to consider whether a reasonable man might not think it possible to fly with safety or to disable his assailant, rather than to kill him.

I still prefer the duty to retreat, but let's not pretend that SYG is something new. It's not.