Re: spells, I think any could be used. If you go look on HP wiki, you'll find plenty of spells that have the potential to be lethal. I think magic in general can be lethal if done poorly, because we see multiple instances of people being killed by misfires and magical malfunctions (that were presumably not killing curses in action). My question is more about the legality of all of this.

Duels in modern day Potterverse were treated like sport, but I assume dueling for honor was a thing in the 1800s? I guess the questions I have are (1) to what extent was it legal, (2) what charges (or societal consequences) could someone face for engaging in a consensual duel if someone were to die or be seriously injured, and (3) would those charges hold up in court?

Dueling with pistols was already on the decline by the mid-19th century and it was formally charged as murder, but from my understanding few were found guilty because the courts were sympathetic to the honor culture.

Quote:The last fatal duel between Englishmen in England occurred in 1845, when James Alexander Seton had an altercation with Henry Hawkey over the affections of his wife, leading to a duel at Browndown, near Gosport. However, the last fatal duel to occur in England was between two French political refugees, Frederic Cournet and Emmanuel Barthélemy near Englefield Green in 1852; the former was killed.

SO upon further research (aka a very brief Wikipedia search) reveals that the last fatal muggle duel happened about forty years before our current IC year. I still think dueling would persist in the magical world because of an education that teaches combative and defensive magic, but I guess I'm wondering to what extent.