In old English law. A form of trlal anciently used In mlli-tary cases, arising in the court of chlvalry and honor, in appeals of felony, in criminal cases, and in the obsolete real actlon called a “writ of action." The question at issue was decided by the result of a personal corn-bat between the parties, or, in the case of a writ of right, between their champions
Source: Black's Law Dictionary 2nd Ed (1910)
