Erwin v. State

Erwin v. State, 29 Ohio St. 186, 199 (1876), is a criminal case in which the court rejected the duty to retreat when using deadly force in self-defense.[1]:551 The court wrote that a faultless "true man" would not retreat.[2]

Using "famous language",[1]:551 the court wrote:

"The law, out of tenderness for human life and the frailty of human nature, will not permit the taking of it to repel mere trespass, or even to save a life where the assault is provoked; but a true man who is without fault is not obliged to fly from an assailant, who by violence of surprise maliciously seeks to take his life or do him enormous bodily harm."

References

  1. 1 2 Criminal Law - Cases and Materials, 7th ed. 2012, Wolters Kluwer Law & Business; John Kaplan, Robert Weisberg, Guyora Binder, ISBN 978-1-4548-0698-1,
  2. ↑ No Duty to Retreat:Violence and Values in American History and Society 4030 (1991)
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