Wager Of Battle Definition

The giving of gage , or pledge , for trying a cause by single combat , formerly allowed in military , criminal , and civil causes, and finally abolished in 1819. In writs of right , where the trial was by champions, the tenant produced his champion, who, by throwing down his glove as a gage, thus "waged", or stipulated, battle with the champion of the demandant , who, by taking up the glove, accepted the challenge.